Crusade
by legendarytobes
Summary: AU - Clark never came back during 4.01 "Crusade." Instead, Chloe is left trying to stop Kal-El and a coven of witches, not even sure which group is set on taking over the world.
1. Chapter 1

**1**

The safe house in Granville was dull and boring. Her uncle was a practical man and he hadn't bothered to spring for anything with air conditioning. Chloe was sweltering and it only amplified her boredom and the desperation.

She missed her life.

She missed Pete and his stupid jokes. She missed Lana's opinions on all things girly or Keanu-related, and God did she miss Clark.

She'd seen him last at the trial and of all her friends she thought that he could be the one above all of them to know. Lois, whom she loved dearly, couldn't keep a secret to save her soul, but Clark held deeply hidden truths. He could have handled knowing where she was truly going into hiding. He could have found a way to sneak in, even, as he seemed to do with The Torch office despite the fact she had the only key.

He should have been here now. They'd only started putting their friendship back together, and she was ashamed to admit that she didn't even think that the tentative friendship could survive the summer.

She'd messed it all up.

She only wanted to keep that chance to prove to him what a friend she was, how she could be trusted to help him.

"Fat chance now," she said, tapping her pencil on her desk. "I just wish I'd never taken the deal."

Chloe sighed. It was a moot point in some ways, Clark was gone and had been for months. Probably the stress of losing Lana or maybe that strange girl from California. No one had seen any sign of him.

She was getting worried.

In that vein was it that wrong she might have, kind of, accidentally hacked into his mom's email account.

She wasn't keeping files, just trying to figure out where he'd disappeared to. Tracking him down was what she did.

Chloe perused the screen, noting mostly e-mails back to the bank and to Martha's sister in Star City, things about Jonathan's health and then Chloe's eyes widened.

There were twenty emails in the last hour alone to Virgil Swann in New York. The same Swann Clark had originally claimed was nothing more than junk mail. All were urgent.

Chloe opened one and frowned, realizing that Martha was very clever. The text was encrypted. Chloe figured it was something Swann and Clark must have come up with for e-mailing each other.

She could crack a code.

Working feverishly, she deciphered most of it in an hour.

Martha was begging for help from the doctor because Clark had...

_No. _

That wasn't right.

No one could fly away. She'd misread it.

Except it was Clark and nothing about him had ever made sense.

"The Hell?" She said, biting her lip. Clark was gone and only this Swann knew anything about it.

And he was in New York.

Damn, Chloe hated doing this, but surely the U.S. government would forgive her.

Shaking her head, she went ahead and ordered her tickets over the computer, making sure to charge them to the General's discretionary credit card. It was time to use her faked passport and test out her new hair color. It was time to get all her questions answered.

It was time to save the boy Martha's letter called Kal-El.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

"I don't give interviews, Miss Sullivan," Virgil Swann replied from where he was studying his computer readouts. "I have no interest in meeting with you."

Chloe smirked triumphantly back at him. "But you still let me in. You could have had your secretary or the security throw me out, but you didn't. You want to see me almost as badly as I need to see you."

Dr. Swann waited for the machine to take in an even breath for him. "I don't."

"But you do. You know who I am. There's no way you've been e-mailing for over a year with Clark and he's never mentioned me. Hell, you sent the first letter to his Torch account. I'm his editor."

"And that's not who I need to see."

"I saw that woman in the red jacket rushing out of here with a lead box. She looked like she was on a time crunch for sure. What's going on?"

"I have a busy life and there are still emergencies at the Planetarium and with my company," he replied sternly, glaring back at her. "Miss Sullivan, I simply don't have time for any of this."

"Please," she begged, her voice no longer even and calm. "Clark Kent's my best friend. He's the only one I have who hasn't moved away. Now is father is slowly dying and no one has seen him in four months and I know _you _know where he is and how to help him. Dr. Swann it's not about a story at all. Clark's the only person I have left."

His lip twitched and she wondered how badly he wished he could still shake his head in disapproval. "I can't help you. There's nothing I can tell you about Clark."

Chloe stepped forward and leaned over his desk. "Then don't tell me about Clark. Tell me about Kal-El. Tell me what all of this is. Why was Mr. Kent found in the Kawatchee caves? Why are Clark's adoption records as real as Monopoly money? How can he do the things he does?"

"How did you hear that name?" Swann demanded sharply.

"I hacked Martha's e-mails to you. She wrote that down. If his mom acknowledges it as his name...there's always been something going on with Clark and now he might be hurt or dead and someone has to help him!"

Swann hesitated. "I sent Dr. Crosby to see Kal-El's mother. The two of them will take care of it. Whatever else you've read doesn't concern you and you should forget about it."

"Dr. Swann, Clark's like family. He's saved my life so many times that I've lost count. If it were Patricia, would you ignore it?"

Swann's eyes narrowed. "And I keep my promises to Kal-El and to his family."

"Don't you see that it's-" Chloe was about to say madness when the whole room shook and if she were in Los Angeles and not New York, she'd have sworn that it was an Earthquake. Instead, she watched, her jaw dropped to the ground as something slammed through the wall of the Planetarium, leaving an explosion of shattered glass and plaster in its wake.

When the wind finished swirling, Chloe was stunned to see Clark standing in front of her. But he seemed so different-from the dark clothes he wore to the distant expression in his eyes to, even, the faintest tip of a scar poking out from his loosely buttoned shirt.

"Clark?" She gasped. They were on the top floor of the planetarium and he had slammed through the wall. How the Hell had he gotten up here at all?

Clark turned to her and she shuddered. His expression had changed from distant to penetrating and there was something unsettling about his eyes. Were they bluer than before?

"You are meddlesome, Chlo Sull-I-Van."

"Okay, what' with the 'me Tarzan' act and the wardrobe overall, not that I miss the primary color extravaganza. I don't, you know."

He stalked over to her and with the way he loomed, she also remember how much larger he was than she. The shattered cinderblock proved that he was inhumanly strong. Chloe felt her heart quicken but she stood her ground and glared back at him. Clark had never intimidated her before.

"You're inconsequential."

"Kal-El, what have you done?" Dr. Swann asked and there was an authority in his voice that made him seem so much stronger than he appeared.

Clark, _not Kal-El _, turned to the doctor. Chloe knew every expression and posture had. With the way he'd obliterated the building, she expected him to have his hands clenched and his teeth gritted. Instead, he was impassive, unconcerned.

Cold.

"You have something of mine. I have come for it. My father demands that I take it in order to complete my mission."

"You don't have to go on a Crusade," Dr. Swann said, his voice quiet, as if he were trying to calm a startled colt.

"I have to finish the mission my father laid out for me."

"Your dad is in the hospital while you're out flying around or whatever the Hell you did, Clark. God, don't you know how worried your mom is?"

He turned and shook his head at her. "Chloe Sull-I-Van, I was not talking about the Kents."

"Quit calling me that. It's creepy. I'm just Chloe and what other father is there?"

"My true father," he sneered, coming as close as he had since his arrival to showing any emotion at all. It made Chloe nauseous to realize that he was brimming with disdain. Clark never looked down on anyone. He was the gentlest person she knew and he adored his parents.

"I don't understand."

He nodded. "The doctor is more loyal to my cause than his actions indicate." Turning back to Swann, he demanded, "Where is the key?"

"It's locked up here but you know that," he replied, his tone as detached as Clark's. "You could have snatched it at any moment but you chose not to. Stop this, Kal-El. Go home your adoptive parents. We can find what you want without you tearing down jet planes."

"What?" Chloe asked.

"You have been monitoring Luthor's blackbox?"

"I have been listening for any reports of unusual strength of speed. I know what Lionel has been looking for for decades. I know what Lex has decided to seek out. I know they're yours, that they belong to your people, Kal-El, but we can get them the legal way."

"The _human _way," he sneered. "I do not have time for that. I came to reason with you because you helped me contact my father, gave me my name back, but I will not bargain with you. It is an insult for me to bargain with any human."

Chloe blinked back between the two men, both resonating with their own authority and power. She looked at Clark, really looked at him, at how preternaturally beautiful he was, at the strength he'd concealed from her for so long. The barn scorchings, the odd symbol burned into his fields, his close friendship with the most famous believer in extraterrestrial life on the Planet.

Lionel's obsession with him.

_The human way _.

"You're not human," she said, her voice as confident as it had ever been. She knew what the facts were telling her, maybe she always had.

He considered her and for a second, his lip curled in disgust. "I am a Kryptonian and I am better than any human."

"Oh my god," Chloe gasped.

Clark...Kal-El...whoever he was now considered her for the first time, his eyes lingering over the large, bangly bracelet on her right arm. "You're supposed to be dead."

"I'm in hiding," she replied, confused. "Uh...I thought we were busy bullying Dr. Swann."

"Everyone thinks that you are gone."

"I'm not. I'm right here, Clark."

"Ka-El," he corrected and she knew it wasn't her imagination when his eyes flared red. "Clark Kent is dead."

Chloe's heart stopped. "What do you mean, he's dead? You're right here."

"_ Clark _," he corrected. "Was human and he was weak. My father purged him from me. I am Kal-El, only Kal-El. Do not forget that."

"Kal-El, you told me yourself," Dr. Swann cajoled. "You didn't want to follow Jor-El's wishes. You have always wanted to forge your own destiny."

"_ Clark _wanted that. I understand my place. I cannot let any of you have the stones." He turned back to Chloe and nodded his head brusquely. "That is why you are coming with me."

Then he blurred so fast she couldn't even see him. There was a fierce wind and the next thing she knew, she was sitting on a stone bench on a wide promenade.

She gaped at Kal-El who now had a small silver disk gripped in his right hand. "Is this the Seine?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"What about Dr. Swann?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Did you kill him?"

Kal-El laughed. "Why would I do that? Such an act is not even worth the effort."

Chloe felt the vertigo flare up again. Her Clark cared about everyone, from the barn kittens and the newborn calves all the way to the meteor mutants of Smallville. He wouldn't kill because it was wrong, not because it was inconvenient to do so.

"What?"

"He is weak and is no threat to me and, as loathe as I am to admit it, he is very smart for a human. I may yet need him in my crusade."

"And why aren't I dead?"

"Because you, too, are useful. You helped him solve many puzzles. No matter how much my father has told me, I do not yet understand how I am to bring the stones together or where to find all of them. You can aide me in my mission."

"Why would I do that?"

Kal-El quirked his head at her. It was a jerky movement and reminded her of a bird of prey. "Because you loved him. He knew that. _I _know it. I remember everything from the last fourteen years, I simply do not care."

"You're going to use me because you think I might have had a crush once on the real Clark."

Kal-El shook his head. "You are confused, Sull-I-Van. There was never a 'real' Clark. There was always just me and the illusions the Kents created to keep me bound. I was always here and now I have a purpose and am going to stay free."

"Clark's real."

"He's dead. The sooner you accept that fact, the easier our partnership shall be."

Chloe wiped at her eyes. She wouldn't cry in front of this thing wearing Clark's body. It wouldn't even care. "I won't help you. What do I get out of it? I do something sentimental, you get your crusade accomplished and what then? Do you take over the world, Kal-El? Do you enslave all of us pathetic humans?"

He frowned and for the first time, he was not as confident as he had been. "I do not know what comes after I collect the stones, only that I must. If I do not, then humans will have them."

"We're not so bad. Clark loves us. He wants to be one of us."

"I do not harbor such an illusion," Kal-El groused. "But they were not meant for humans and the ones who are seeking them, the Luthors and the Countess, they are not good people. They will use them to conquer this world as surely as you think I will."

"Isn't that what aliens do?" She snapped. "Conquer things."

Kal-El rocked back and she had the oddest feeling she'd offended him. "My father told me once that I was to be a god among you, that I was going to rule you with strength."

"Oh god."

"Not quite," he admitted. "I do not know what I want or what I am supposed to do. I am deeply confused. My ship, what it tells me, is so very different from the family history I have been downloaded with. The artificial Jor-El and my birth father, they do not seem the same."

"What was your father like? Hell, where are they? Did they just send you out here to take over the planet? Do they send one superpowered kid to every nice potential colony?"

Kal-El turned from her and stared out at the Seine. "They are all dead. All but me. I was sent here in part to save my life. What I am to do with the human race is not yet clear."

"What do you want to do?" She asked.

"I want to complete my crusade. Will you help me? I can do it alone but it will take longer and someone like that Luthor, like that man who almost killed you, could get to them first. I am not Clark, do you understand that?"

She nodded, "You've made that painfully clear."

He turned back to her and nodded. "But I have his memories, and I understand what he valued and why. I have learned who our father and mother truly were."

"That's creepy and really schizophrenic."

"It is what it is," he replied, oddly Zen. "My father spent his life trying to protect our planet and our galaxy from the most dangerous criminals. He was a good man, a man of peace and logic. Whatever else I know, I know that I am not here to kill anyone. It is not worthy of the House of El."

"Oh."

He nodded, "I will not harm you either. I do not betray my allies, even if they, like Swann, betray me first."

"You really think that the stones in Lionel's hands could do something catastrophic?"

"I _know _that they could. Sull-I-Van, help me save the world."

"Well, gee, and I was so busy playing Tetris eight hours a day."

Kal-El considered that, his face impassive. "Is that a refusal."

"Oh god, you have no sense of humor anymore, do you?"

"I do not find human jokes funny, but Clark only found a percentage of your jokes amusing to begin with."

"I'm a riot."

"No, Sull-I-Van, you are not," he said, sticking out his hand. "We shall be partners, yes?"

She paused and shook his hand. "If it keeps Lionel Luthor from obtaining ultimate power, of course."

"Do not try and look for Clark," he said, his brilliant blue eyes boring into hers. They were not Clark's eyes, not at all. And that made sense, in a way. If eyes were the mirror to the soul, and all that was left was Kal-El...why should they be the same. "You will not find him."

"I know. Will he ever come back?"

Kal-El frowned and stood up, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets with enough force to shred them. "I am here now."

Chloe stood up and stared at him. "You're offended."

"I am not. I care little for your opinions. It is irrelevant to our mission."

She followed after him, taking three steps for every one of his on the bank. "You do care. You care what I think, maybe not Dr. Swann and maybe not even Martha, who, human or not, protected both you and Clark for over a decade. There'd be no quest at all if not for her."

"I am not ungrateful for the Kents protection but I no longer need it," he corrected.

"But you care about me," she replied, staring up at him. "I've upset you a few times for all your Dr. Spock emotionless crap." She shook her head, "So much for humans being insignificant."

Kal-El stared down at her and the first real expression she'd ever seen came across his face. It was a smirk that reminded her uncomfortably of Clark's wild Metropolis summer. "Who ever said that you were human?"

"What?" She barked. "You're lying."

"I am not," he answered. "You are not like me but your as fundamentally different from an average human as I am. I can smell it on you. So, no, Sull-I-Van, I still do not respect humans, but I find you fascinating."

His eyes bore into hers again and she felt something warm flutter in her stomach. He wasn't Clark, and yet there were years of memories and want and desire for the man who looked just like him, for her best friend, and, if she were honest with herself, she was equally as drawn to the man in front of her now.

"Just be quiet, Kal-El, and tell me what we're even doing her."

"Do you not want to be fascinating?" He asked philosophically. "On that account, at least Clark and I could agree."

"He found me 'fascinating?'" She scoffed. "I never thought he saw past Lana."

Kal-El glared at her. "That reminds me."

"Oh god, Lana's a space alien too and you're destined to start a master race."

"Hardly," he snorted. "She is painfully ordinary. You are not. No, Clark found you intelligent and loyal, in the end. These are two qualities to be valued. He had more compassion than I."

"Meaning?"

Kal-El reached out and grabbed her wrist. The grip was like having a bear trap clamped onto her. She felt something crunch. "I remember everything that happened between you and him and Lionel. If you think of betraying me to him, I will know it and you will not live to do it."

"But you're not a killer."

"No, I do not set out to kill anyone. If it is a choice between you becoming a threat and the fate of this world I've been put in charge of, I will choose the world."

Chloe swallowed. "I understand."

"I thought that you would," he said, taking back his hand and staring at her wrist.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "You lived on a farm. I know accidents happen. Surely you saw Jonathan or Martha bruise before, you asshole."

"I am not watching something bruise, Sull-I-Van."

"What?"

He gestured down to her arm and she gaped as a rose-colored glow spread across her flesh and the bruising subsided. In seconds, the skin was as unblemished as it had ever been. Chloe scooted back from him, stopping only when she'd backed herself into a telephone pole.

"What have you done to me? Did you pull an E.T. or something?"

"I do not understand?"

"Geraniums!"

Kal-El frowned. "Neither Clark nor I have seen the movie. I cannot heal others. My blood has curative properties but only when it is synthesized. No, Sull-I-Van. That is only you."

"I can't do that!"

He quirked his head again, appraising her with almost scientific scrutiny. "And I would say that you just did. Come along, we have an appointment at the Louvre. There is something that has been waiting there for four hundred years."


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

"I don't know what you're looking for," Chloe snapped, annoyed by Kal-El, who insisted on walking ahead of her. Clark, despite his long strides, had always tried to keep an even pace with her. Kal-El didn't care.

The alien...no, wait, that wasn't fair, exactly. He had once been Clark and she'd never think about her best friend like that. Clark was the most human person she'd ever met. Even if Kal-El was cold and arrogant, there had to be something underneath all of that, didn't there?

Maybe not Clark, maybe she couldn't get him back. But her best friend had always had a gentle nature, something intrinsic that had to have been there before the Kents ever found him. Kal-El was rough, but he had spared her and Dr. Swann. He had the capacity to temper what he was. It wasn't kindness.

But it was a start.

As was his desire to keep the world safe from men like Lionel.

Kal-El stopped finally and glared down at her. "There is a church in Paris that contains the crypt for which I am searching. I do not know which one and this is Paris-"

Chloe nodded. "A city of dozens of churches and catacombs beneath the streets."

"It will take me time that I do not have to search it one by one, even with my speed. It is faster to find the clues."

"How Da Vinci code of you," she snarked.

He frowned at that. "Do you suppose that was true?"

"It was a book and a poorly written one at that," she objected.

Kal-El shrugged and kept passing through the labyrinthine hallways, shaking his head at the classical Greek and Roman statues. "I was merely thinking."

"And?"

"There is some merit to such a theory. I do not believe in human religion."

Chloe sighed and bit her lip, "Clark never did either."

"We are not similar."

"No, I guess not. So, you know you're talking to a good Irish girl, don't you?"

"I remember mass. Was the priest actually a vampire? That was a mildly interesting theory."

"It was a bust but I think one of the nuns is a succubus."

Kal-El said nothing but continued into a section filled with Byzantine art, bronze statues and ancient shields. "You have more imagination than most humans."

"I thought I didn't count."

"You come close, sometimes. Can you not imagine then that there were visitors who found humans worth mating with?"

"Jesus wasn't-"

Kal-El glanced back at her and there was cool disdain mixed with amusement in his features. "Of course not. I suppose all of that Von Daniken is fallacious as well."

"Aliens don't-" she started, unsure of how to finish.

"You know _I _exist."

"Obviously, but you don't...there aren't cults and, uh, half breeds running around."

"The reason you are here is because my people were here before and they established colonies. Nothing grandiose. A few of the more daring individuals did interbreed with humans. The Kawatchee are not wrong. They're many, many generations removed from true Kryptonian blood but they do have it. There are whispers of other sites. Even my father is not sure where all of them were. I know Cairo was one but Luthor took the crystal there first. It is not an issue."

"The other places?"

"Somewhere in South America but that is too broad a description. I need more than just 'a continent.'"

"Where else?"

"Here."

"In France?"

"You seem surprised," he replied as they slipped into a wing of the museum devoted to Eurasian art. Some of it were paintings of Czars of the past, all the way back to Ivan the Terrible, but there were also a few old maps, displaying all the knowledge of the ancient world. In the center of everything was a moldy, leather bound book encased in glass.

"I think we'd know if we had Martians in Paris."

"Kryptonian," he corrected, his eyes flashing brightly.

Touche.

"You're very sensitive. Did you know that?"

"I am not," he huffed, stopping in front of the case and eying it. "We were a great race and still deserve your respect."

"I know you. I've seen you make a fool of yourself a hundred different times. You're just a guy."

Kal-El said nothing but slammed his fist through the glass and Chloe flinched as claxons blared. "Shit!"

"It is not a problem. I fried the security cameras while you were in line."

"You never moved," she replied confused.

"No, you never saw me move," he corrected, picking up the tome and then sweeping her into his arms. They were gone before she could blink.

"It's in Russian."

"That is not a concern."

"You read Russian now?"

"My father has done much to me over these months. Our technology-"

"Was awe inspiring. Sure, but could it slice, dice and make Julienne fries?"

"You are not amusing," he said, hunched over the book, but there was just the slightest curl to his lip.

"Uh-huh. So the alien AI-"

"Kryptonian," he corrected harshly. "_ You're _the alien, remember?"

"How silly of me," she drolled. "So the caves brainwashed you."

"They trained me. There was an embedded learning program. If I am to care for this world, however that is to be accomplished, I should be able to converse with its inhabitants. I can speak and read several dozen Earth languages. Russian is one of them and, fortunately for us, so is French."

"I speak French."

"Languages aside from English are not your strong point. If I remember, Clark tutored you through Latin."

"Cheater. Your memory is photographic, right?"

"Of course."

"Clark denied that."

"He would," Kal-El replied, shaking his head. "He was ashamed of his powers. I am not."

"I guess not, but that whole French Berlitz deal explains how you were able to get us a room." Chloe spun around and eyed the suite they were staying in on the banks of the Seine. The bed was massive in the main bedroom, with a huge four post bed, covered in delicate silk sheets and exquisite comforters and pillows. The furniture was antique and looked a little like the mansion in Smallville. Even the ante chamber, the sitting room with a large pull out sofa was expensive and accommodating.

Hell, they'd come up to find Champagne and caviar waiting for them.

Kal-El had eaten the caviar in one quick swallow.

He had not touched the alcohol.

"Kal-El?"

"I am busy."

"How did you afford this?" She frowned. "You didn't con someone, did you? You don't have like freaky power of suggestion abilities?"

Kal-El, as he tended to do more than he'd admitted, glared at her. His tone was slightly wounded when he spoke. "They are not 'freaky,' and Kryptonians are not psychics. There were no Jedi mind tricks."

"Huh."

"What?"

"You made an allusion."

"I remember things. I merely do not care," he replied. "I paid with a diamond. It was easy enough to make. I have overpaid for this room but it was a hefty enough sum that they will be discreet."

"They won't ask for id and a credit card, you mean."

"Exactly."

"Where did the diamond come from. I thought we only stole one priceless antiquity."

Kal-El said nothing but then he flickered. When he soldified again, there was a lump of coal clutched in his hands. Without saying a word, he squeezed it and a light brighter than anything even she had made that afternoon shone through his fingers. When he opened his fingers again, there was a large carat diamond in his hand.

"My god."

Kal-El sighed, "No, I do not wish for that appellation. There are no gods. There is no Rao nor any of the myths of your people. The universe is more complicated and logical than that."

Chloe, who had never completely bought catechism, still could not agree with him. If there were no soul, then where had Clark gone. He had to be more than just a sum of memories. He had to be somewhere, didn't he?

"I meant it was amazing." She said, sitting down next to Kal-El at the large oak table. "Why didn't you-" Off the angry flare of his nostrils, she amended. "Why didn't Clark ever do that to help keep the farm stable?"

"It was suspicious. The Kents would not allow it and he never disobeyed them. He was a more perfect pet than any dog you've ever seen."

"Clark wasn't-"

Kal-El's grip on the binding tightened enough to crack the leather. "He certainly was. I do not doubt that Martha Kent loved us. Let me correct that. She loved Clark. She wants me gone. I am not as sure about Jonathan."

"That's a terrible thing to say you ungrateful bastard."

"My parents were married at my conception," he replied, without a trace of irony in his voice. "You should not speak about situations that you do not understand, Sull-I-Van."

"Well I don't understand any of this."

"That is true," he conceded. "What happened between Clark and his father is complicated and has never surprised. Humans, even ones with intentions as kind as the Kents, cannot be trusted."

"Yes they can. You must trust me."

"That is, as they say, a horse of a different color, but we shall get to that. You wanted to know about Jonathan? i will say that when it mattered most, when Clark was desperate to be accepted by his family as a human." Kal-El stopped then and shook his head. He looked vaguely as if he wanted to vomit. "He was desperate to lower himself to that. Be that as it may, Jonathan turned on him, chose the human child over Clark."

"The baby," Chloe supplied. Pete had, after a a generous helping of her cousin's Schnapps confessed everything about the baby during that long summer.

"Yes. Clark was devastated. It is why he ran. He should not have been surprised. To a degree, he was a convenience."

"That's a horrible thing to say."

Kal-El quirked his head at her, unnaturally bright blue eyes boring into hers. "It is truth. That is something you do appreciate. Do not be a fool, Sull-I-Van. They ran a farm of that size with one man and an adolescent boy. How do you think they did it?"

"Clark," she replied, slapping her forehead. She knew nothing of farming, but it had occurred to her more than once that the other farm kids didn't do as much as Clark did, that the other families in town had several hands at least.

"He was equipment in some ways, as surely as the tractor still is."

His tone was strangely bitter for someone who didn't care.

"Kal-El-"

"Clark was always a fool."

"I don't believe that."

He thumbed through the book. "He was waiting for something that could never come. What does that make him?"

"Hopeful."

"He was not hoping. He was mired in denial. What we are is a revelation. It is not a dirty secret to keep hidden. We were never going to be human. It was foolish and degrading to hide our strengths for so long. I will never do that again."

She arched an eyebrow at him, "Really?"

"Yes."

"Why haven't you gone flying through Paris or burning down buildings."

"You have mistaken me for something that would level Tokyo, Sull-I-Van. I will reveal who I am when I am ready, when I have what my father insists that I must. There is no need to be showy now."

"But in time?"

"I will not hide what I can do. I have spent fourteen years in shackles. My true father has remedied that situation."

Chloe was tired of his talks of greatness and of what Clark lacked. In her opinion, her best friend had lacked very little. "What are you looking for?"

"Have you heard of Rasputin?"

Chloe gaped. "You know me."

"Clark-"

"Cut the semantic bullshit. You know I love every conspiracy theory that has ever come out. I know who he is."

"I care nothing for Anastasia, but you know of his occult interests?"

"They say he was a powerful hypnotist, that it took more than one attempt to kill him, if he died at all."

"Exactly. He was obsessed with the occult and with the quest for stones that would give him ultimate power."

Chloe shivered. "The stones you want."

Kal-El blinked back at her. "I am not Rasputin."

"I don't know who you are."

"Sull-I-Van, I will let you in on a little secret."

"That's a novel change of pace," she replied bitterly.

"I have no reason to obfuscate anything. What I know, you can know. If it helps us beat Luthor-both of them-and the Countess, then I shall be glad to."

"Glad?" she asked, snorting.

"What?"

"Can you even feel anything?"

Kal-El slammed the book shut and disappeared. It was only when she turned around that she realized he'd gone out to the balcony. Sighing, she slipped outside and leaned against the wrought iron rails.

"I think I messed up."

He said nothing for a while, but looked out instead to the Eiffel Tower out in the distance. "If I were as tyranical and cold as you think I am, I'd have killed you for that slight. I am not Zod."

"Who?"

"I am not a despot. I can feel as well as Clark could, Sull-I-Van and I am as confused in my own way as he was."

"Could have fooled me."

"I do not know how to finish my quest. I do not know what comes after or how to move among you best. I know very little, despite my instruction. I...there are no others."

"You mentioned that," she said and she wanted to touch his shoulder. If he were Clark, she would have, but something that intimate was very likely to startle him.

"It is an enormous honor to carry on the proud tradition of my race, but it is a burden and it is overwhelming despite my strength."

"I can imagine."

"No, Sull-I-Van, you cannot. Clark's loneliness is mine as well. I merely accept that duty comes before all else." Hr turned to face her and her breath caught at the way the lights of the city highlighted his fine cheekbones. "I can feel. I could love, if I chose. I could be slighted. I suppose you are not slighted by the rejection of a cockroach-"

"That arrogance is putting a crimp in our relationship."

"Fine then, monkey or dog. Humans and I...we are not equals. I do not need them, but I have extended courtesy to you. Do not snap at me about it being just limited to not killing you. That is an insult to both of us. I would consider either your or Swann's opinion."

"Are we equals then?"

He gazed back out at the city before he answered. "We are partners, is that sufficient?"

"It is a start."

"I know I am not who you were comfortable with. I know that you are more confused than I could imagine, but I would appreciate it if you would treat me as kindly as you would have him."

"I'm sorry."

"It is alright now that you have apologized," he replied. "Do you want to know why we are in Paris?"

"Yes."

"There was a despot on my planet, a cruel man who made Hitler look like the hack artist he tried to become. He used our technology to reach across space and time and he contacted a witch."

"There's no such thing."

Kal-El turned to her and grinned. It was so like Clark's expression then that she gulped. "Just as there are no little green men."

"You are neither of those things."

"Fair enough. But there are witches and one of the most powerful who ever lived was named Countess Isobel Theroux. She and Zod were in collusion and she was to find the stones for him. She was burned at the stake before she did it, but she tried. I must find her records. She must have known where the stones were."

"And Rasputin?"

"He was a medium among other things. He contacted her from across the astral plain, for lack of a better term. He has the information in his journal that I need to find her tomb here. From there, I hope to be able to track down her estate and records."

Chloe nodded. "So tomorrow, we'll find the tomb?"

"We shall do that indeed."

"Talk about a scavenger hunt."

"It is on a grand scale, yes," he conceded. "But I am better than American Airlines."

"Was that a joke?" she asked, amused.

"Perhaps."

"Kal-El?"

"Yes?"

"What did you mean when you said that I wasn't human?" Despite her attempt to stay detached and confident, her voice shook.

Kal-El turned and considered her. "You say that as if not being human were a bad thing. Do you not realize what has befallen you is a gift?"

"What happened?"

"It is your wall, is it not?"

Chloe backed up a few steps until she tripped onto the chaise lounge, thudding down into it. "I'm not a meteor freak."

"You have always been infected, as long as we have known you."

"Don't say that!"

"That you are infected?" he asked, quirking his head.

"No, the we thing. It's creepy!"

"It is most accurate," he continued. "I smell, hear, and see better than a human ever could. There was something subtly off about you. Clark did not understand what it meant. You were infected at some point."

"But I didn't have powers. I've broken my arm before. I had stitches a few times."

"It was not enough, a dose small enough to start the changes in your DNA but not to finish them. But you fixed that. _Clark _fixed that."

"What?"

"The Veritas serum was based from Kryptonite extractions, but it was the antidote, the pure shot of mostly undiluted Kryptonite to your heart that finished your mutation. It brought you back from the dead. I do not find it a stretch now that you can heal very well after that."

"No."

"Do you want me to test it for you again?"

"Don't you dare touch me!" She spat.

Kal-El narrowed his eyes but said nothing. "Do not blame me. You sought out the facility you had no legal access to. You refused appropriate medical help until it was too late. Clark saved your life."

"I..." She gulped. She had done it to herself. All her investigations, her relentless pursuit of both the truth and the secrets of Smallville, and now she had become one of them.

"You did it to yourself. Between you, you and Clark finished what some long ago exposure started. He made you better than you were."

"I'm not better."

"You self-heal at the very least. That much is evident. If I had to guess, I would wager that it makes you invulnerable to illness. It would also protect cells from dying, leaving you at the very least slow to age, if not nearly immortal." He smirked and shook his head. "You are much more like me than you think."

"I'm not some freak!" She shouted.

Kal-El's expression changed immediately, it became stony and closed off. "I had thought we were past insults. I suppose I am wrong. I will see you in the morning. Do not try to leave," he leaned over her and took a deep sniff, his nostrils flaring widely as he did it. "I can track you anywhere you go now."

"I-"

He gazed once at her wrist, the one he'd hurt, the one with the plastic bracelet weighing it down. "Sull-I-Van, you belong to me now."

With that he was gone.

Chloe brought her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead against him. Slow tears worked their way down her cheeks. Her best friend, for all intents and purposes, was dead. Her life as a normal human being was over, and she was at the mercy of an alien being who, despite his promises, could kill her with a blink.

"Clark, how could you leave me like this?"


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

Chloe awoke to find herself carefully tucked into the bed in the expansive bedroom. She didn't even remember coming in from the balcony. In fact, she was certain she hadn't. Sitting up, she pulled the cover closer to her chest and stared across the room.

Kal-El was standing there, in the same clothes he'd been in the night before, studying her. His expression was impassive and vaguely blank.

Chloe shifted and coughed. "Kal-El?"

He blinked. "You are awake. I had been debating waking you up myself, but I do not have coffee with me and even I would fear such wrath."

"Is that also a joke?"

Kal-El quirked his head at her. "No, it is not. You with little sleep and no caffeine is distinctly unpleasant."

"So I scare the fearsome demigod?"

"I have respect for the talent you had for infuriating Clark."

"So I see," Chloe sighed and looked down at her clothes, which were rumpled from their flight and from sleeping in them. "Did you sleep?"

He shook his head. "After I left you," and he paused there, swallowing before he continued, "I started to search through South America. I was able to comb through Argentina and Uruguay but it is not an efficient manner for searching. I came back around four and found you passed out. Did you not want to be brought in?"

"No, I do appreciate it," she said hesitantly. Frowning, she added. "But it's already eight. You didn't sleep at all?"

"I was not tired," he replied. "I have been in suspended animation of a sort for four months and am physically well-rested. It gave me the time needed to comb through Rasputin's accounts."

"Speed reading?"

"No, the book is in such a condition that speeding through it would cause the pages to crumble. I finished most of it but it had to be completed at human speed."

"Makes as much sense as anything else," she admitted, standing up and stretching. "Do you ever sleep?"

Kal-El narrowed his eyes at her. If he was such a superior being, why did everything she say ruffle him? "Is this how it is to be?"

"How what is going to be?"

"Will you question me incessantly?"

"You have met me, right?" She replied, grinning. "I was curious. It's not an interview."

"Do you need me to elaborate on every bodily process?" He gruffed. "Yes, I do sleep. I breathe, though not nearly as often as a human. I could hold my breath for hours and suffer no ill effects. I do eliminate waste and I can have intercourse successfully with a human." He smirked at her. "In fact, I have proven to be more than adequate in that area."

Chloe gaped. "You've had sex? Clark never...he would never."

"You met Clark in Metropolis that summer. What did you think he did then? Why else would he need such a luxurious apartment if not to entertain women...and men?"

Chloe's mouth fell open wider. "Clark wasn't gay."

"I did not say that he was. We spent the summer drugged on our version of a narcotic. The gender was secondary to finding someone to fulfill our physical needs. To be fair, it is more unusual that we were having intercourse with aliens. The fact that they were of the same sex on occasion is more of an afterthought."

Chloe tried to block out the image of that exoskeletoned monster from Alien and a strung out girl from a Metropolis club in bed together. That was hardly fair to Clark or, even, to Kal-El. "I guess so."

"If it ameliorates the situation. We did not bottom. That would be beneath us."

"Oh TMI!"

Kal-El considered that and she swore he smirked. "You inquired, Sull-I-Van, perhaps you will one day learn not to be so curious."

"Do you eat?"

"What?"

"You didn't mention eating but I know you have to do it. I saw Clark eat two large pizzas and one of his mom's apple pies all on his own."

"That much was true," Kal-El admitted as he pushed open the doors to the main room. Chloe was impressed by the large room service roller cart in the center of the room and the large covered silver serving dishes. "We needed a great deal of energy as we were growing, but the energy we derive, in the last year or so, has truly come from the sun. I do not need to eat as long as I get sufficient exposure. However, I still prefer to."

Chloe pulled up the tops of the four platters and snickered at the cascade of bacon, sausage, eggs, scones, rolls, and fresh fruit that greeted her. It was enough for ten people. Or one Clark with enough left over for her. "I can see that."

Kal-El sat down and served himself a plate most lumberjacks would consider overkill. "Are you not hungry?"

She was famished. The last thing she'd eaten had been the peanuts on the plane from Metropolis to New York. "Starved," she admitted, helping herself to some eggs benedict. "Thank you for ordering for me and for getting me off the balcony. Um, about what I said last night-"

"We shall not dwell on it. I have accepted that you say things you do not always mean or, perhaps, you did mean them. It is of no consequence. Whether you view me as a 'freak' or not has no bearing on our quest." He said it with all the same warmth as he always did, but she noticed that he avoided eye contact as he spoke.

"I'm sorry."

This time he did look up at her, scrutinizing her with the same intensity Clark had once reserved for his telescope. "No, you are not. You have drawn the lines in your head that you have deemed necessary. There was Clark and now there is not. There was the human-like boy for whom you lusted and now there is the alien in his place. If that is what it takes to keep you focused and to keep you with me as I proceed, then that is understandable."

"You think you know everything, don't you?"

"What I know would make human science obsolete if I chose to share it."

"That's not...you're not omniscient. You told me so yourself. You can't read me. Fuck, Clark couldn't understand me at all either. You don't know what I'm thinking."

"Perhaps you would care to enlighten me," he replied casually as he began to serve himself a second place. He gave new meaning to the phrase "inhaling food."

"I don't know what to make of you exactly. You can't blame me for being curious, Kal-El, and you certainly can't blame me for being confused. You can fly and move faster than I can see. You're strong enough to tear through the foundation of a building. I'm curious about your limits, if you have them. I just wanted to know."

He nodded. "You would not be Chloe Sull-I-Van if you did not quest for the truth. It is why I have chosen to keep you with me. That is not my objection, if I have one."

She rolled her eyes. How typical guy was it not to even admit to how he felt. How typically Clark. "I didn't mean to make you feel like a freak."

"You cannot insult me."

She snorted. "Yeah right."

"You cannot!" he insisted, his grip on his fork tightening enough to make it snap.

"Like that kind of excitement doesn't prove my point," she countered. Kal-El, I'd be lying if I said that you didn't make me nervous."

He looked down at his bacon. "Then thank you for not deceiving me."

"But," she said, surprised to find her hand on his forearm. "It doesn't mean that I hate you or find you disgusting. I would never have thought that of Clark, even if he had told me everything."

Kal-El hesitated and pulled his arm back. "He would never have done such a thing."

"I know that now and I can't exactly blame you, but the freak thing...I'm mad at myself. I can't believe what's happening to me."

"Why?"

"Because I'll end up in a mental hospital like-" She clamped her mouth shut. She'd never even tell Pete or Clark about her mother. She certainly wasn't going to tell Kal-El.

"The inmates at Belle Reve," Kal-El shrugged. "You have been manifesting for five or six months and have not changed in your mental stability. It seems to be an unfounded fear in your case."

"But I'm one of them now," she said, thinking back on Justin Gaines and Tina Greer and all the others who had tried to kill her or her friends over the years.

Kal-El pushed his plate away. "And it is a division you've erected to begin with. You have chosen to see the meteor-affected as a threat. For every one of the individuals whom Clark put away, there are at least one, if not more, who lead normal lives or use their powers to benefit others. You met Kyle Tippet and Jordan, among others."

"It wasn't supposed to be me."

Kal-El stood up and flickered again. When he was back, there was a pasteboard box clenched in his hands. "I suppose you would not believe me if I said that, even now, I feel the same way."

"I'm not sure."

"Well, we have just met. Trust is earned, is it not?"

"So far you've abducted me and broken my wrist."

"And you've insulted me three or four times over. I suppose if it hadn't been for your relationship with Clark, such as it was, we would have parted ways by now."

"You asked me to save the world. It does wonders for a girl's ego," she replied, smirking. "What's that?"

"Something for a well-dressed sidekick. Do you like capes?"

"Oh you are such a dork, Marvin."

"Kal-El."

"As in Marvin the Martian. I don't do superhero outfits," she groused, going wide eyed at the contents of the box. "Kal-El. That's, jeez, that's a lot of zeros in a price tag," she added, pulling out the light weight cashmere sweater from the box along with a pair of matching jeans.

"I remember that you prefer colors which draw attention but Chloe Sull-I-Van is dead and you should try and distance yourself from her until the trial has come to an end."

"But tan?"

"It matches well with your hair now and it is appropriate for the cool September weather, Sull-I-Van."

Chloe grinned and headed to her bedroom. "Technically, Uncle Sam gave me a modified version of Lo's passport. It's Lane, Kal-El, Lois Lane."

"So, are we sure this is the church? One big ass cathedral kind of looks like every other big-ass cathedral?" Chloe asked, rocking back and forth on her heels outside the tall gates of St. Pierre's.

"Would you prefer it to be Notre Dame?"

"No, it's just that how can you be sure that what the Mad Monk wrote will actually be accurate."

"I believe that he was correct."

"I thought you didn't buy into mysticism."

"No, I do not believe in any deity. Magic is something different. It does not truly exist in the mystical sense either."

"It doesn't now?"

"No," Kal-El replied, passing under the large stone archways overhead. "What appears to be magic is truly science."

"Isn't everything?" Chloe replied, dryly. Now that sounded like vintage Clark who really had tried to impress her the first day with his telescope and astronomy geek leanings.

"It is about the exchange of energy and the manipulation of space and time. There are principles and balance and symmetry to it. It is merely a form of physics that is so advanced that it has surpassed the theoretical. But humans have no words or capacity to understand that. So it became reduced to superstition and then to nothing more than the tricks of Charlatans."

"I see."

"You do not, exactly. Rasputin and the Countess could manipulate energy itself. What they perceived was knowledge obtained with the greatest of care and skill. It is valid."

"Energy."

"Yes. There is nothing else. That human with the ridiculous hair had one thing correct at least," he conceded stepping into the apse of the church and eying the collection of tombs planted into the marble.

Kal-El frowned and then clenched his fists at his side. "It has been moved."

"What?"

"Look," he said pointing at a series of bronze castings. There is a space between two of them, a large expanse where the marble is discolored."

Chloe knelt down and reviewed the spot he was pointing at. The marble in one spot was much darker, as if it had never been faded by the light pouring through the stained glass windows. "What now?"

Kal-El said nothing but pulled back his fist and then slammed it easily through the marble. It crashed around him as if it were nothing more than balsa wood or styrofoam. Chloe flinched. In front of her, Kal-El sighed. "I am sorry that it was so sudden. You do not need to tense up. I would not apply such force to you."

"Force of habit. Humans startle. Adrenaline is not our friend," she quipped. "Are you going to replace that?"

"I have been told the Catholic church has money," he deadpanned. "There may have been a rant involved about tithing."

"Yeah, well being miffed that dad didn't have enough that month to get me a new hard drive is not reason to level the floor. Jesus, we are in so much trouble."

"Should we add blaspheme to property damage as well?" He replied, digging through the remains. Chloe felt vaguely nauseous at the sight of the skeleton lying there. Kal-El kept pawing through it and then shouted, " Rao-dracu! ."

Chloe flinched again at the harshness of his tone. "Not good right?"

"God damnit! Her journal is missing."

"Her?"

"The Countess Theroux," he corrected, standing up and dropping what looked like a femur back into the crypt. "It has been stolen."

"Or it was never here."

"It existed. There is a record of the stones and she had it."

"Kal-El," she started, placing her palm on his shoulder. Gulping a little at his harsh intake of breath. "Maybe we need to-"

"What in God's name are you doing here?" A small priest with graying hair, demanded as he charged forward. His accent was thick and Chloe could barely understand him through it, but the flushed purple cast of his cheeks clued her into his anger. "I'm calling the police."

"Monsieur, I can explain," Chloe said. "Okay, I totally can't, but we're very sorry and we'll be leaving now."

Kal-El, apparently, did not find that a suitable plan. Faster than Chloe could blink, he had his hands clamped around the priest's shoulder and had the man pinned to a wall, his feet dangling above the ground. "The Countess's marker, where is it?"

"What?"

He tensed his fingers and the man screamed. "Where was it moved to?"

"I can't tell you that. It has been taken away inside of the church for restoration."

"Where?" Kal-El demanded and his eyes were red; Chloe knew she wasn't imaging that.

She couldn't let him do that. He wouldn't kill the old man, but he didn't seem to be too bothered with harming him. Desperately, Chloe reached out for his shoulders. "Stop it! Just stop it, Kal-El!"

It was like trying to move a mountain, to push against the blades of Chandler's windmill. He was going to hurt this poor man seriously, if only he understood anything about the pain he was inflicting.

If only...

And then that same rose glow spread through her palms and seeped into his shoulders. Kal-El howled and dropped the priest before clutching at his own upper arms. " Futui le am. Me dano! ."

Chloe didn't spare him a glance as she scooted over and helped the father to his feet. "Monsieur?"

The old priest crossed himself and looked between Kal-El, who was swearing-clearly a litany that angry were curses in any language-with his eyes glowing like dying embers, and her, with the soft golden glow fading out from her palms. "Mon dieu."

"I, sir, we're sorry."

"Since when do an angel and a devil work in concert?"

Chloe laughed at that. She laughed long and hard. No one who had seen her ruin her teacher's career and life while she was high on Veritas, no one who knew of her deal with Lionel, would ever accuse her of being an angel.

"You're so wrong. It's not even funny."

Kal-El who had recovered from whatever the Hell she'd managed to do to him, was not as jovial. "We're working together to stop the end of the world." He squared his shoulders and held himself with a regal authority as he spoke. "The time frame for such things has been moved up and neither of us agree with it. Now, take me to the seal."

"You know," Chloe drawled, leaning with him over the bronze etching. "You have a winning personality."

"I was not going to kill him. A broken bone does heal and it can be most persuasive."

"Talking like a made man."

"A what?"

"Did you never watch The Godfather with Pete?"

Kal-El continued scrutinizing the seal. "Martha Kent did not approve of the language or graphic violence."

"You certainly sound like the whole foul language thing is not an issue anymore."

"It is not becoming of my House but this is a dire circumstance," he amended, his cheeks flaring red and it was such a Clark thing to blush.

"So, now that I've apologized to the priest, handed him three of your diamonds to convince him not to press charges, and declined an offer to be presented to the Pope-thanks for that by the way-have you found anything useful?"

"I have not found the tome, if that is what you are implying."

"But you've found something else?"

"Yes, but it bodes poorly for us."

"More than you breaking bones first and asking questions later?"

"I do not find that amusing."

"I don't like you manhandling people. We'll be talking about that later," she replied, her tone stern.

"I do not-"

"Listen to mere mortals, whatever. I'll walk if you keep having an attitude problem, oh great and powerful ALF," she snarked. Leaning over him, she asked, "What is it I'm looking for."

"Two things," he replied, his tone efficient and clipped and it brought back late nights following leads at The Torch. "First, do you see that shield?"

"Yeah. So what?"

"There is supposed to be a sigil from my people on the etching. It was in Rasputin's records."

"And?"

"The symbol was for water, the element of change."

"Double so?"

Kal-El stilled and she wondered if she'd be able to annoy him enough to get him to roll his eyes. "The Countess is alive."

"Not possible. We just saw her bones and you made them powder."

"No, you do not understand."

"It's a steep learning curve. 24 hours ago I didn't know aliens or magic existed for a fact," she defended.

Kal-El sighed and finally looked up at her. "The Countess left herself with a manner to escape from the grip of death."

"Purple."

"What?"

"If I were still your editor-"

"Very well then. She left that symbol on her tomb in hopes that her rightful heir, the latest descendant of her bloodline, would encounter it. It was a way for her to possess a human body."

"So now that the symbol's gone, it means that the transfer has taken place?"

"Yes."

"Shit."

"That would sum it up," he said dryly.

"What's the other thing?"

"What?"

"You said there was a second thing for me to notice."

He nodded and pointed to the necklace around the Countess's throat. "That was the design chosen for the pendant she always wore. It is modeled after the traditional jewelry of my people, perhaps something Zod imparted to her."

"Because she promised to be his concubine or whatever when he crossed that great divide?"

"I cannot say. Does the design look familiar to you?"

"It looks like a necklace."

"Look closer."

She frowned down at the simple diamond cut of the gem. It reminded her of both the painting in the Kawatchee caves and of the necklace Lana had worn for almost her entire life. "I...I know where I've seen that before."

"Lana Lang, correct?"

The way Kal-El said Lana's name as if he were reading it out of a phone book was the final confirmation she needed that he was not Clark. She'd never heard Clark refer to Lana with any less than deep longing.

"Yes. But that makes no sense."

"Coincidence does not exist either. Lana was drawn to Paris for a reason and it matches almost perfectly with my rebirth and with your new life of anonymity. We have been moved into the proper positions."

"So you don't believe in mysticism or in gods but you believe in destiny?"

He stood up. "Everything unfolds in a pre-ordained pattern. If I were anything, I would choose to be a deist. Sull-I-Van, we need to hurry back to the the hotel. There must be another way to find her spell book before she does."

"No."

"What?"

"I said 'no,'" she replied, placing her hands on her hips. "We needs to steal a computer first."


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

"Found it."

Kal-El looked up from where he was reading through Rasputin's book on the sofa. "I do not believe you."

Chloe smirked back at Kal-El. "Of course you do. This is why I am still the best sidekick in the business. You thought you had to pound your way through Paris and all you needed was me, a laptop, and some quality time with Ebay."

Kal-El snorted. "That book might contain the secrets for gaining ultimate power and knowledge. It is not some trinket to be bid for in between collectible Star Trek mugs and vintage movie posters."

"And it is so right here. Come and look," Chloe insisted, jumping a little when he just appeared at her side. "You know, I'm getting a bell for you."

"It would be pointless. I can run faster than the speed of sound," he replied. "You did not lie."

"Of course not."

"Unlimited power and it's on Ebay."

"Small world."

"Commercialism is unfathomable."

She sighed sadly. That was, despite his hauteur, a truly Kentian sentiment. "But I've found it regardless. I can place a bid on it and they'll send it from Istanbul, we should have it-"

"Got it!" Kal-El chimed, slamming the book down onto the kitchen table.

"Or you could run to the shop in question and steal it. You know, you have a sliding scale of morality."

"It rightfully belongs to the Countess and she would track it down in time. It was never going to stay with the owners. However, I might have left several thousand dollars in its place," he finished, offering her a small, genuine smile.

She was taming a space alien.

How Smallvillian.

"Kal-El, do you want to just skim through that one in superspeed? Will it fall apart?"

He held it out and flipped through it in a blur. "No, it is guarded by magic and more durable than it should be."

"Did you find anything?"

"One second," he replied and this time Chloe only squeaked when he appeared back at the table with Rasputin's book as well. He flipped between two pages and then studied a section of the Countess's journal.

"Kal-El?"

"I have found it."

"What?"

"Here, read the Countess's entry."

"My french sucks. I took two semesters in college."

"At least you admit your deficiencies," he remarked.

"Is that a joke?"

"Yes, yes it was. I shall be performing Monday through Fridays at happy hour."

"Careful, Kal-El, you'll start to sound human," she joked.

Kal-El paused and considered that. "No, I won't. Moving on, the entry recounts how she and her coven were making arrangements to provide for passage to the Far East. They were heading to China, Shanghai more specifically."

"Alright."

"My people visited Kansas, South America, and Cairo, but it appears China must have been another destination. She was convinced something was there. Zod must have told her that it was."

"And Rasputin's?" Kal-El turned the book to her and she frowned down at the ragged map page shoved into the center of the book. She unfolded it and frowned. "It's a painting."

"No, it is not. Do you see the characters on the edges?"

"Kawatchee?"

"Kryptonian. I have X-rayed it and found a map. It is of a forked road near a stream and a temple. I did not know where the temple was, but I believe it is the one that Isobel was searching for in Shanghai. We shall go there in the morning. I believe the second stone is there."

"And tonight?"

"I believe that you are hungry and we have made great progress. We have the map Isobel will need and she is greatly limited without her spellbook."

"And the Luthors?"

"Lionel is putting his efforts into trying to find you and escape his charges and Lex is still recovering from not only his poisoning but the loss of the first stone. We are ahead."

"What about counting chickens?"

"It is unwise, but I have been an unfair host, have I not? I have ordered you around and manhandled and have not allowed you to recover. You may be self-healing, but you certainly tire from stress. You must need some time to enjoy yourself."

"'Enjoy?'"

Kal-El looked away. "I must acquire appropriate attire. There is something already hanging in your closet. I X-rayed the labels of your clothing. I hope that it fits. If it does not, we shall try something else."

"Wait, attire? Look, there's a Mickey D's on the corner, which is the joy of American Imperialism. I don't need to go somewhere with a dress code."

"I would not consume such garbage. Those are hardly made of cows, perhaps not even true food. I would like to do this."

"Why?"

"It is my business," he replied, blurring out before she could object.

She had a feeling she was going to hate that in time.

"Kal-El," she said, as he pushed her into her seat, and she was unsure whether the manners came from the Clark part of him, the Kal-El part, or both. "This is...I don't get it."

Kal-El, who was impeccably dressed in a deep crimson shirt underneath of a blazer Lex Luthor would have chosen, frowned at her. "What is there to get?"

"This, traditionally speaking, would be a date. It's like an extra date, since you even picked out the dress," she said gesturing at the red (what other color from Kal-El or Clark) cocktail dress he'd picked out for her. As the hours passed, she realized more and more how different the two men were from each other. Clark couldn't pick out an outfit to save his soul.

"You lacked a dress and they do not allow jeans here."

"I'm superconfused."

"You mentioned that," he said, opening and then closing the menu.

"Were you going to read that?"

"I have both read, translated, and memorized the menu. Would you like for me to order for you?"

"Wow, that's not 1957 right there."

"You do not read French adequately. You have no idea what you are ordering."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Something with chicken then."

"That seems agreeable. Do you not also want snails?"

"Please no."

"They are quite good."

"When have you ever had them?"

"Clark has always had an invulnerable constitution and a voracious appetite. We have eaten many things that are not technically food."

"Garden snails?"

"He was not proud of it, although we both harbor an affection for lead paint."

"That's so colorful ," she amended at the last second, moved by the general unease in his expression.

Kal-El brightened. "I do appreciate the consideration, Sull-I-Van," he said, gesturing to the waiter and then ordering for the both of them in French that sounded indistinguishable from what the locals around them were speaking.

"Did I get snails?" She asked, after the garson was gone.

"I got snails, many of them. You are having chicken which, I've been told, tastes like chicken."

She giggled. "Now you have two jokes."

"I shall have a full set in not time," he replied earnestly.

"Maybe you should just conquer the world with stand-up. It seems to have worked for Seinfeld."

Kal-El sighed. "I do not wish to conquer anyone."

"I was kidding, but only a little. Seinfeld's almost Lex rich. It's a thought."

"Oh."

"Yeah," she sighed and, picking a roll out of the bread basket, started to pick at it. "Kal-El?"

"Yes?"

"What do you want? After your quest, I mean, what will you do?"

"What my father and the stones instruct me to do."

"No, that's what you have to do. What do you want? You tell me that you feel like a human. I know you have the same emotions. I've seen you angry and frustrated and hurt."

"I have not been hurt."

"Offended, then. I know that you have a duty. Trust me, General Sam Lane's niece knows about duty and honor and being all you can be, but that isn't the same as wanting something."

"That seems to be a personal question."

"I know your deepest held truth and you know mine. We've crossed into personal territory," she corrected.

"Then, if it is just between us, I would like to no longer be alone."

She frowned. "To have other Kryptonians?"

Kal-El paused and let his eyes linger over her. "No, Sull-I-Van, I did not mean that."

Chloe gulped. Certainly he didn't mean...

"Kal-El-"

The arrival of the meal interrupted her and gave them both an excuse to ignore the topic at hand. Kal-El ate in silence and Chloe picked at her chicken, occasionally offering her opinion on what they'd seen at the Louvre. She'd even mentioned a few details about her safehouse summer, anything to make the uncomfortable silences dissipate.

She was about to be reduced to talking about the summer reading she'd actually done, despite her death-who didn't love to discuss The Grapes of Wrath-when Lana Lang walked into the room.

" Clark ," Chloe hissed, finally gaining his full attention.

"Sull-I-Van," he started and then stopped, realizing that the other girl had entered the room. Kal-El watched her approach. Chloe could hardly believe it. To her perspective it looked like Clark Kent was watching Lana Lang with little more than nervous concern. There was no love, no admiration, no foolish puppy love crush in his expressions. There was nothing there at all like she'd seen over the last four years.

"He is gone, isn't he?"

"Chloe," Kal-El said, forcing his cadence and diction to sound as Clark Kent like as possible. "I'm sorry about that, not for me. I don't want things to be like they were, but I'm sorry that it hurts you that he's gone."

She closed her eyes and braced herself. This bizarre triangle established between them was moot. What mattered was Lana and the Countess, saving the world. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," he replied and he sounded so much like her Clark that it hurt.

"So, what's the game plan?"

"Just this," he said and she could see the way he'd forced that goofy, besotted expression onto his face. "Lana!"

Lana, who was on the arm of an attractive guy a few inches shorter that Clark, blinked back at "Clark." "Clark? What are you doing here?"

Chloe gulped and looked in her compact. Her hair was a dark brown now and she'd taken up wearing brown contacts as well to help change her appearance. She'd also been reduced to eating food provided by her uncle's recruits. Food that sucked. She'd lost fifteen pounds that summer and lamented the reduction in her bust size. She wondered if it was enough to fool a girl who'd lived with her for two years.

She hoped it was.

Kal-El beamed back at her. "Lex gave me an early graduation present."

"You haven't graduated yet."

"Okay, you caught me. It was a bribe, kind of. We had a fight because of something he did and he gave me a tour of Europe as a consolation, a way to offer the olive branch and get our friendship back on track."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "And this has nothing to do with the fact I'm in Paris?"

"We did the Louvre yesterday and the cathedrals today. We're heading farther east and out of the country in the morning."

"And who's your date?" Lana asked, her tone snippy. That blew Chloe's mind. The other girl had refused Clark's overtures last spring and then fled the continent to get away from him and now she was mad that he had a date.

The Hell?

"This is Chloe's cousin, Lois Lane."

Chloe held her breath and thanked her lucky stars that Lana had backed out on that last minute trip to Metropolis last summer to meet Lois, Lucy and the General. Channeling her cousin, Chloe slouched a little and eased her elbows onto the table. "What's up? The place is pretty good, but there's way too much prissy crap. I mean, snails? What the fuck, right?"

Lana's face grew pinched and reminded her a little of a hamster. "That's one way to put it."

"Lana, who's your friend?" Kal-El asked, studying the guy. Chloe had a feeling that he was memorizing his features.

"Jason Teague," the guy said.

Kal-El shook his hand enthusiastically and Chloe marveled at his ability to feign his lack of strength. She'd seen Kal-El punch through marble and now he was grasping fragile human bones with great care. It made her sad for a second, when she realized how many years of practice he had had to put into hiding all that he was. She could understand how bitter he was about concealing his strength and shirking into the shadows.

"Hey! You're one of the best players the bulldogs had last season."

Jason smiled self-deprecatingly and gestured to his knee, "Not anymore. Risk of the game, you know?"

"That sucks, but you were amazing. You really were."

"Thanks."

"So," Chloe interjected. "How did you two crazy kids meet?"

"Clipped her with my Vespa, but not on purpose, best mistake I ever made."

Lana giggled and kissed his cheek and there was something slightly off about her behavior. Chloe frowned between Lana and "Clark." It was almost as if she, too, were playing a role. "After I recovered from the shock and picked him up off the pavement, we couldn't resist each other."

"That's pretty damn cool. I mean, who doesn't want a summer fling in the most romantic city in the world. Smallville over here, not romantic in the least. I'm only with him because Uncle Gabe and Mrs. K wanted someone to keep an eye on him."

"You're not dating?"

"Fuck no."

The patrons at the table next to her glared. Oh yeah, she was so channeling her inner Lois. Kal-El, for his part, hunched his shoulders at her tirade.

Sighing and rolling his eyes, he added, "Our parents thought the trip would help us both take our minds off of things."

"Like how evil billionaires put my cousin in an altoids box."

Lana's eyes were the size of hubcaps after that statement and Chloe patted herself on the back. You knew you were perfectly Lois when everyone in the room was scandalized. "I'm sorry about Chloe. We were like sisters."

"You didn't go to the funeral," Kal-El reminded her sadly.

"Neither were you."

"Lex totally had him detained that day for depositions, couldn't be avoided," she added. "Anyway, we've totally gotta bail. I can't stand that snail crap smell anymore, you know?" Chloe stood up and shook Lana's hand with a force that matched her efforts pumping water from the Kents' well.

"I see," Lana replied, still appalled, but at least she hadn't realized she was dealing with Chloe Sullivan.

"Clark," she replied, leaning up to kiss his cheek chastely. "I'm sorry you won't be in Paris tomorrow too. The four of us could have caught up on so many things."

"Yeah, man. Love someone in this country who doesn't just ramble on about soccer."

"Fag sport," Chloe put in, channeling a bit of her uncle too.

"Exactly!" Jason enthused. "You're a cool chick."

"Oh, I know," she replied, frowning as she watched Lana pull away. The other girl's eyes flashed violet for just the tiniest second.

Kal-El was clamping onto her upper arm and throwing far too many bills onto the table. "Good-bye."

They were back in the hotel room in a flash. "Did you see what I saw?"

"I did."

"That flash...that was the Countess, wasn't it?"

He nodded. "I believe that it was. She is in Lana, but I am not sure if she is in complete control. She would need to be at a fuller strength, to be connected with her book."

"See, we're in the clear then. We'll be in Shanghai come dawn and Lana-Countess will still be just here."

"I suppose," he replied, his tone uncertain. "Sull-I-Van, could you google Jason Teague for me?"

"You can't google yourself?"

"I was using that generously as a blanket term for whatever records hacking you had to do."

"Cool, but I don't do that in sequins-"

She hadn't even had a chance to ask for a change of clothes before a pair of fluffy sushi pajamas were being thrust into her arms. Kal-El was already changed into jeans and a plain green t-shirt. "I think your speed is the best part ever."

"You may bow any time before me," he deadpanned.

"You know, you're getting a hang of that whole humor thing. You're easily as funny as Clark ever was."

"That is an insult."

"And how," she chirped, heading into the bedroom and changing into the pajamas as quickly as she could. Kal-El had little patience. "Alright," she said, regaining her seat. "You want a little background on Jason Teague." After a few minutes, she'd pulled up his student info from Met U. "Full scholarship for football, son of Edward Teague, of one of the most prestigious firms in Metropolis, and his mother, Genevieve."

"Maiden name?"

"Mont Blanc."

"French."

"So?"

"Is it possible for you to trace her family line?"

After forty minutes of her clacking keys and Kal-El's annoying pacing, she hit pay dirt. "Oh, whoa."

"What?"

"Her great, great, fill-in-a-few-more, grandmother was instrumental in the witch trials in France."

"She put the Countess to death, did she not?"

"Bingo. Gertrude brought key evidence against Isobel, but the funny thing is that she claimed she'd been cursed by the Countess into joining her coven."

"She was in the coven and then she turned on it, sending the other three members to death."

"Yup. Who wants to bet she turned traitor so she could get the stones for her own and not split the power four ways?"

Kal-El nodded. "That seems the most likely explanation. So, Lana comes to Paris and by some miracle manages to stumble upon her ancestor's tomb and become the vessel, and she also meets Gertrude's heir at the same time."

"That's as sarcastic as you get, isn't it?"

"Yes. Jason and Genevieve are working together and they've helped Lana fulfill her end of this arrangement faster than she was perhaps destined too."

"You don't know that they're working together."

"It is a valid assumption. He has lost his scholarship and is at odds with his father, or so the latest rumblings from The Inquisitor have told us. If he wishes to stay in the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed, then he must do as his mother wishes."

"Wow, how Caligula."

"Quite," he replied. "Genevieve Teague is the one in control of Jason. She has wealth and influence to match the Luthors. This will complicate matters."

"Should we head to Shanghai now?"

Kal-El shook his head. "It should hold until morning as you've said. Besides, I would like to continue with my search of South America while you sleep."

"But you do sleep?"

"I am not tired and the matter is pressing," he corrected.

"You shouldn't exhaust yourself."

"I will not." He paused. "If one did not know better, they would assume you cared about my well being."

"Why wouldn't I?"

He frowned at her but did not respond directly. "So, Lois, that was a remarkable act. Even I did not recognize you."

"That goes both ways," she amended. Looking down at her hands, she added, "You sounded just like him."

"Memories. I know what we were. I could imitate it, but it would always be an act as much as you being Lois Lane is an act. It is not truth. It is not who I am anymore."

"I know," she said, her breath hitching.

Kal-El nodded and turned to the balcony. "I should be off."

"No!"

"Excuse me?"

"We have to talk about what happened today. You can't hurt people, Kal-El. We can't rough them up."

"If it is expedient..."

"It's cruel and thuggish. Isn't that beneath you now, too?" She countered.

"It was necessary!" He insisted, his eyes flaring.

She rolled her eyes at his display. "You're not scaring anybody, E.T. Look, it's not how this is going to work. You want my help and look who found the spellbook for you and Jason's real identity. I won't do jackshit, if I think you're going to hurt someone."

"You are presuming to tell me what to do?"

"Oh, I presume, buddy. Awe-inspiring powers or not, we're partners here and we agree on how we do things. I don't hurt people."

"You hurt me," he replied.

"What?"

Kal-El paused and considered her. "I assumed that your ability was limited to self-healing, but that is not the case, whatever you can do, it involves both the potential to harm and to heal."

"I just tried to pull you off."

"And my shoulders are still bruised which is odd since I do not bruise. It felt as if another Kryptonian were attempting to injure me, as if my strength were being used against me, though that makes little sense."

"I just wanted you to stop."

"What went through your mind as you touched me?"

"That you don't understand anything!" She shouted, standing up and glaring at him. "You don't know how much anything hurts. I thought that if only you could understand pain-"

"Then I did."

"What does that mean?"

Kal-El frowned. "I do not know. The affect of Kryptonite on humans is not stable and I do not understand it, no one does. I do not know what has happened to you. You may have developed the ability to will what you want to happen: your arm to heal, me to hurt. It may be that you...I am not sure yet, but your power is more complicated than anything I had anticipated."

"That makes me feel worse."

"It had made me feel better," he admitted, moving in closer to her.

"Why?" she breathed, her voice barely above a whisper. He was leaning in so close to her that she could feel his breath on her cheek, and something warm rumbled through her stomach.

"If you can harm me, than that does truly make us equals. It had made you worthy."

"Of what?"

"That would be telling, Sull-I-Van."

She snorted, "You are so much more like Clark than you think you are. He was all about the half-truths as well."

Kal-El stepped back and clenched his fists at his side. "I am nothing like he was."

"You still won't level with me. No matter what you call yourself, you aren't honest with me. What am I worthy for? What do you mean you don't want to be lonely? Fuck! When did I get drafted to belong to anyone, let alone you?"

"I do not answer to you."

"You could do me a kindness and be open about things."

He shook his head. "We have been together for less than 48 hours. I have revealed far more to you than I am comfortable with. Is that not sufficient?"

"No. I feel like there's so much more going on here."

"There is, but this is not the time to discuss it. Mission first."

"Kal-El?"

"What?"

"I...why did you lie?"

"I have not."

"No, shit, I meant why did Clark lie?"

He tilted his head at her. "Are you so dense that you do not understand what would have befallen us had someone like Lionel or your uncle discovered us?"

"I understand that part. I meant why didn't Clark tell me?"

"He did not wish to become front page news for the Daily Planet."

"Do you think I'd do that?"

"How did you get your column?"

Chloe rocked back as if his words had been a physical blow. "I never gave him anything."

"No, you did not, and I cannot quite account for that." Kal-El sighed and looked at the carpet. "Humans do not understand me. None of them can. The Kents did not. They did not understand how their warnings and their overbearing edicts crippled me. Pete Ross did not."

"Pete knows?"

"Yes. He found my ship and Clark was stupid enough to hope he'd understand. There was revulsion and then an uneasy acceptance, but it did not last. He expected Clark to steal for him, to be at his beck and call."

"Pete wouldn't."

"Just like he would never illegally race cars. There was nothing in the end but jealousy for my gifts...his gifts," Kal-El corrected. "Why would I tell you?"

"What?"

"Why? At worst, I would be revealed to the world too soon and taken away for dissection. At best, the types of insults you've hurled over the last day would have started then. No one sees me as I am, even Martha Kent so desperately wanted a human son and I was not that, could not be that. It is easier to lie. It is simpler to have you, all of you, like the lie, then hate and revile the truth."

"I thought you were done hiding?"

"I am," he finished angrily. "I am done with all of it, but he tried to keep the illusion. He tried to be normal enough for all of you and it will never work," Kal-El stopped then and shook his head. "I am sorry. That was too much. Our relationship would be better if-"

Chloe reached out and touched his hand. "If we are honest with each other. Clark and I spent two years, almost, at each other's throat first because of my secret and then because of his."

"Your affection for Clark is not a secret. It never was."

"But it was easier for him to pretend that it never existed."

"Yes. Clark loved Lana."

Chloe swallowed. "I know."

"He only loved her."

"Believe me, I know."

"I am not Clark," Kal-El replied and before she could prod him for more, he was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**6**

When Chloe woke up the next morning, she found herself in the middle of a florist's shop, the kind of florist who only specialized in tulips. Sitting up, Chloe looked around at the yellow, red, pink and other colors that surrounded her. Taking a deep breath, she couldn't help but smile. "Kal-El?"

He was sitting with his back ramrod straight in the chair in the far corner of the room. She wondered how long he'd been watching her. It made her uncomfortable to think of him staring at her all that time, not because he was what he was, but mostly because no man had ever paid attention to her like that before. "Yes?"

"I...you didn't have to do that. I thought you were in South America?"

"I was, but I had thirty minutes to spare as I was coming back to the hotel. Is it not appealing?"

Chloe sighed and stepped out from under the covers. It was nice to have the sushi pajamas on, since they were the least sexy thing she'd ever seen. "It's nice."

"Simply 'nice?'" He asked, his tone concerned.

"Kal-El, I don't see what opening a flower shop in my bedroom has to do with our mission."

"I have my own motives."

Chloe's heart sped up a little at that. "Kal-El, honestly, what is all of this-the clothes, dinner, flowers-I'm seriously confused."

"You do not like them?"

"No, they're great. I said that."

"These are appropriate. I remember that much. I am to buy you flowers and you are to enjoy them. They are most fresh."

Chloe eyed one bouquet that might had what looked like a bite mark taken out of it. "Did you eat one?"

"Just to ensure that it was fresh. I do not have a fondness for vegetation. I much prefer meat."

Chloe laughed. "Only you."

"I am unique," he replied, smiling hesitantly at her and it was endearingly vulnerable.

"Yeah, I'm sure about that," she replied. "Kal-El, are you trying to date me?"

His expression changed then and he held himself even more stiffly than before. "You have helped me locate both the likely location for my stone and have also found the Countess's book. I am rewarding you for faithful service."

"History aside, if Pete were your assistant, I doubt that he'd get breakfast, tulips and a cocktail dress."

"Pete lacks the shoulders to carry off the Furstenberg." Chloe smirked at him. "What?"

"Your sense of humor is growing."

"That is an observation of fact. You looked magnificent last night, completely appropriate."

"For what? Are you looking for a queen, Kal-El?"

"No. I was merely trying to do something nice. If you would prefer fast food from now on then that can also be arranged." He said, walking out into the main room.

Chloe rolled her eyes. The unable to admit to anything in Clark had at least partially been Kal-El no matter what her current partner wanted to admit. Following out after him, she added, "Look, if you're attracted to me, that's...well that complicates things, but you should just tell me. Being confused about his feelings was Clark's specialty."

Kal-El's eyes blazed. "I am not confused. I am merely trying to be courteous. Perhaps I have been mistaken," he said opening the safe in which she'd stored the two books. "_ Pastal tale!_."

Chloe was learning enough Kryptonian to know when he was cursing. "What's wrong?" Kal-El stepped back from the safe and she gasped when she realized it was empty. "That's impossible. I locked them in there last night before I went to sleep. The door to the room's been locked and you've been the only person who visited."

"It would appear that either Lana or Jason have some rudimentary lock picking and safe cracking skills. I would bet on Jason, if his mother has been grave robbing for years, then it would be an appropriate component of his training."

"Maybe they didn't," she defended, although she didn't really believe that.

Kal-El shook his head. "We're leaving. You have three minutes to be dressed."

Chloe was done in less than sixty seconds.

They landed outside of the temple in Shanghai and Chloe was glad that Kal-El flew in superspeed. Objectively, it was probably amazing to soar through the trees, but in reality, if it had lasted more than a few minutes, she would have been vomitting from air sickness.

Kal-El set her down but did not move, instead he quirked his head and Chloe realized that he was listening.

"Kal-El?"

He gulped. "They are in the temple. I can hear Lana's heartbeat."

"What?"

"Clark had memorized several heartbeats even before our hearing grew so acute this year. He memorized his mother's when he was very young to help cope with nightmares, but Lana's heartbeat is another."

"Oh." The next question was out of her mouth before she could stop it. "Could he hear mine?"

"_ I _could hear yours," Kal-El answered. "I told you that I was always there and I have been. I could hear you." He was staring down at her, his blue eyes intense, and, for the first time since they had met, she did not see Clark in him at all.

She saw Kal-El.

More adequately, she saw a man who was staring at her with something far more than friendly concern.

"I-"

He shook his head. "It is a moot point at this juncture."

"I know, quest. So why are we out here?"

"I am afraid."

She gaped at him. "You? You're afraid?"

Kal-El looked down at her. "I have been injured by meteor mutants before and your ability has given me a healthy respect for you."

"You don't want to piss me off, you mean?"

"Precisely."

She put one hand on his shoulder as she spoke. "I didn't mean to do it. You've promised not to injure me and I swear not to hurt you either. It's part of learning to trust each other."

"I appreciate that as well, Sull-I-Van."

"Why are you afraid?"

"Because magic can hurt me. It could kill me. My body works by absorbing the energy of the sun."

"Like a plant?"

"No, not exactly," he huffed.

"Okay, so you're not a sunflower."

"Not at all, but I can absorb other types as well. The kind the Countess wields could kill me if she so chose."

"Fuck," Chloe swore. "I was hoping it would be an easy beat down between the invulnerable E.T. and Sabrina the Teenage Witch."

"No, it would not. I am pausing to tell you this because if something should happen, I would need for you to find Dr. Swann and try and find the third stone."

She slapped him as hard as she dared. "We're not doing that good-bye thing, okay? It's a witch, but you apparently have someone the Vatican's read to canonize, so let's do this!"

Kal-El smiled broadly. "I have always had excellent taste."

"Huh?"

"I...argh!" He cried, bringing his hands to his ears and doubling over in pain.

"Kal-El?"

"My family's tone. I know where the stone has been placed," he answered, scooping her up in his arms and speeding around to the temple's expansive garden. When he set her down again, Chloe's eyes widened at Lana in a long silk dress, holding an old stone carving in her hands. Standing under the tree near her was Jason, his eyes tinged with a fanatical gleam.

"Lana, stop!" Chloe shouted.

Lana looked up at her as she slammed the horse to the ground. Her eyes were bright violet and Chloe shivered. "I don't wait for mortals."

"Do you wait for me?" Kal-El replied and then he blurred too fast for Chloe to follow. When he was standing back beside her, the stone was in his hands.

The Countess shook her head and picked up the long dagger lying on the dirt next to her. "That was exceedingly foolish, _Clark _."

Kal-El quirked his head at her. "You know, don't you?"

"I know that whatever you are is a sorcerer unlike any I have ever met. You are not truly human."

"I am better than that," he said, tensing his hand around the stone.

"What the Hell is going on?" Jason asked, glancing toward the Countess. "Isobel, let's go."

"He has what I'm seeking, but that is no matter," she said, turning out her hand palm up and a bright purple light erupted from it, striking Kal-El. He staggered and dropped the stone. Chloe dove for it, cradling it close to her chest, and turning back around in time to watch Kal-El rush at the Countess.

The Countess shook her head and jumped into the air and stayed suspended in it. Kal-El leapt easily up into the air himself and cocked back his fist. It left his side open. Isobel slashed into it and Chloe watched as blood began to well and seep through his shirt. Kal-El hissed and looked down at the dagger. To Chloe's surprise it began to glow orange and, within minutes, she could smell flesh burning. The Countess howled and dropped it. The rest of the fight dissolved into punches landed so fast, no human could hope to follow it.

Chloe didn't have the luxury anyway because Jason Teague was rapidly approaching her. He held out his hand toward her. "Lois, give me the stone."

Chloe blinked dumbly at him and even glanced over her shoulder for her cousin until she finally remembered her cover story. When she did, her resolution was absolute. "No, I won't."

"Look, I don't want to hurt you, but this has been going on for decades. I promised someone I'd get it for her."

"I know, you're a total momma's boy." That was the insult that forced Jason from civil to raging. He rushed at Chloe and twisted her arm back, pain flared through her and she tried to break away but she was small and he'd been a college football star.

God, if only...

Chloe closed her eyes and concentrated as she had with Kal-El. Jason just had to feel her pain; he had to know what he was doing to her. The light seeped out of her again, flowing over Jason's hand and wrist and his eye's widened. "What the Hell?"

Then he screamed and clutched his arm toward.

"See how you like it, jackass!" She shouted, kneeing him in a place that no man wanted to be injured.

Jason dropped to his knees and shouted, "Isobel!"

The Countess, whose lip was bleeding and jaw was already bruising, broke away from her fight with Kal-El and, hand to god, apparated by Jason's side. Glaring up at Chloe, she shook her head. "I did not anticipate others of the Craft complicating my search. You enjoy your victory today. I shall find the other two stones before you make it out of China."

There was a bright flash or purple-hued lightning and they were both gone.

Chloe rushed forward toward Kal-El and brought her hand to his wound. "Are you okay?"

He nodded and pulled up his shirt just enough to show her the gash above his right hip. "Merely a flesh wound and it shall heal. The blade was enchanted, to use your colloquialism, but I should recover within the day."

"I was worried."

Kal-El considered this. "You should not have been."

"I was."

"Then you do care for my health?"

She shook her head and squeezed his shoulder. "Partners, right? Where would Starsky be without Hutch?"

"I am confused."

"The Kents should have sprung for cable. Okay, where would the mid 90s Bulls have been without Pippen _and _Jordan."

He nodded. "I do understand your point. May I be His Airness."

She shook her head. "I never expected first contact to be like you."

"At least I am interesting."

"I don't doubt it," she answered, following him as he entered into the temple. "I don't get it."

"What?"

"Why are we wasting time here if you have the stone?"

"Because," he answered stepping into something that resembled a throne room more than a monastery. "My ancestors were here and they may have left clues to where the final stone is hidden." He paused then and squinted his eyes at the walls.

"What are you doing?"

"I can X-ray any substance save for lead," he replied, stopping when he caught sight of the circular alcove. "There."

"There what?" She asked, but Kal-El didn't answer her. Instead he sped forward and ripped the huge stone out of the wall and rolled it aside.

"Whoa."

He grinned back at her. "You have seen superstrength before."

"I saw you crash through a wall," she corrected.

"It is still impressive," he defended, stepping forward and then collapsing as the chamber began to glow a neon green.

"Kal-El!" Chloe shouted, rushing forward and kneeling down to cradle his head against her lap. "What's wrong?"

"Booby-trapped," he breathed out, shuddering in her arms. "The meteor rocks may mutate humans, but they can weaken and kill me. I did not think that they would be kept with my people's artifacts."

"Will you get better?"

"No, I need for you to move me."

"Are you kidding? You must weight 180 pounds?"

"If you do not do this, I will pass out and perhaps die."

Chloe shuddered at the thought. Bracing herself, she clutched onto Kal-El's wrist and slowly, oh-so-slowly, dragged him to inch by painstaking inch until the glow faded. "Are you okay?"

His color faded from green back to its more tanned tone and he nodded. "I shall not try that again."

"Look before you leap," she admonished.

"I do not need a sitter."

"Perhaps you do," she riposted. "Okay, since I'm already a meteor rock petri dish, I'll take a look."

"Be careful that there are not other traps."

"I think," she replied as she started pawing through the scrolls and dragon masks, "That the priests a hell of a lot more worried about you or your people returning."

"Ingrates," Kal-El pouted and _that _was so typically Clark. "We gave them higher mathematics."

"Thanks for that. I hate math," she quipped, frowning when she came upon a piece of art that was clearly not Chinese. It was dressed in something that vaguely resembled a loin cloth and had a large, grotesque nose, twisted over itself, that contrast so sharply with the flat pug-like nose of the dragons. "Kal-El?"

"Yes?" He asked, eying the statue she brought over to him.

"I think we need to see Dr. Swann again."

"I do not think he will be pleased to encounter us."

"No, but he can help us find a contact at the Museum of Natural History. We need someone to tell us exactly where this is from, which tribe, because I think that whoever made this is who hid the final stone."

Kal-El considered that and nodded. "Excellent. You are a fitting partner, Sull-I-Van."

"Thanks for the overwhelming praise. So," she said, easing into him as he wrapped strong arms around him. "Off to NYC?"

"Perhaps there shall be a show," he joked.

At least she thought he was joking.

"Uh-"

"Sull-I-Van, first I must take you to Smallville."

"Why? I told you the statue has to be in Central America."

"Because," he corrected, sweeping her up into his arms. "The monolith of my immediate ancestors, the hidden chamber to protect the stones is there. We shall go and be at the doctor's as soon as can be hoped for."

She grinned at him and clutched the stone and statue to her chest. "Well, then, let the scavenger hunt continue."


	7. Chapter 7

7

The caves were dusty and Chloe coughed when Kal-El set her down in the middle of them. Still coughing, Chloe watched as Kal-El held up his hand and then touched the painting in front of him so quickly that his movements seemed to blur. As he did that, Chloe's eyes widened. The symbols on the caves began to glow and then to move, spinning around into a new configuration.

Five hundred year old paintings changed themselves.

"Whoa!"

Kal-El made no indication that he'd heard her. Instead, he waited, watching a small crack in the caves. As they both studied it, the walls slid apart, revealing a large chamber hidden with him. It was glowing so brightly that Chloe had to shield her eyes until the golden light subsided.

When it had, she glanced up and realized that Kal-El had already stepped ahead of her. Sliding into the chamber, she watched as Kal-El placed the stone, the one from China, into what looked like a stone altar, beside a clear crystal that also had a symbol carved into it.

Approaching him, she placed her hand on his arm. "What do they say?"

"They are elemental symbols. The one you see their means fire, and the one we rescued from China, it is the symbol of my House. It means air."

Chloe quirked her head at that. "You say that a lot, _House _. It's a title, isn't it?"

"It is not as auspicious as you would believe it to be. My father was a scientific advisor in the field of experimental physics. I suppose it is as honorable a position as being the Surgeon General."

"But it's more powerful isn't it?"

He shook his head. "As far as I have been told, it was not enough. The Council did not listen to him when it mattered."

"What did happen?"

"He knew what Zod was trying to do, but no one believed that our planet could be compromised," he replied as they stepped out into the main chamber of the caves.

"But it was since you're the only one here."

"Yes. My father told the truth and no one believed him. It was most unfortunate."

"I'm sorry."

"I appreciate the sentiment."

She sighed and leaned against the wall, near that serpent headed character Lex was so obsessed with. "I'm glad you came, you know."

"No," he corrected stiffly. "You are glad that Clark was here. If you could be rid of me, I assume that you would be."

Chloe hesitated and didn't answer. She missed her best friend, but she was beginning to like Kal-El. He had as much right to exist as Clark did. To try and get rid of him, would it be murder?

"Hey!" She called, forcing herself to be cheerful for his sake. "What's this one?"

"What is what now?"

"This one. It's the symbol that Lana's ancestors took for themselves. This is the painting that means she's destined to be with you, right?"

Kal-El frowned. "It is a symbol for the woman who is destined to be with me, for the one who is destined to wear my wedding band."

Chloe looked at the silver and turquoise bracelet or perhaps it was supposed to be a pendant, she wasn't sure, that was painted over the woman's chest. "That's what I said. Lana had a necklace like this and Clark was always in love with her, even you told me that."

"I told you that Clark loved her. I am complicated."

"You think."

"I do not appreciate sarcasm all the time, Sull-I-Van."

"Fine, so Lana is perfect and beautiful and once you get passed the whole possessed by a psychotic witch problem, you two will be blissfully happy together."

"You are a shit liar, Sull-I-Van."

She blinked. "I thought you were above cursing."

"I am not, and I believe in being honest with you."

"That's a refreshing change of pace," she snarked, despite herself.

"For our previous dishonesty, I do apologize. I know better now, that you can be trusted. However, 'Clark' was all that was human in me. He was all that the Kents raised us to be. The human in me loved Lana."

"I don't-"

"The Kryptonian has no need for her. She is fickle and dishonest, and I know what kind of person she is."

"What kind?"

"The kind who would 'go to the mattresses.'"

"What?"

"It is an expression from _The Godfather _, I believe. Lana will do anything to win. She does not have limits. Once, it was merely about being the best coffee business, but she did expose their weakness without compunction."

"The unfavorable health report."

"Yes. I have seen other sides to her over the years. She snooped in your files without your permission and that it hurt you deeply."

"I thought you wanted me to apologize to Lana for that. If I remember correctly, I did do that."

"Clark wanted."

"Is there a division? Did you make it all up?"

"No, I did not. He loved her enough to forgive her moral shortcomings. I do not have that problem. She simply is not worthy to be the intended wife of a Kryptonian."

"No superpowers?" Chloe asked wryly.

"Without the borrowed powers of Isobel, she is merely human, that is true."

"And I'm not?"

"_ I _have always known you and I knew from the day I started showing you around the halls how powerful you had the potential to be."

"So, Kal-El," she said, drawing closer to him. "The tulips, the cocktail dress, is it all because I'm the most powerful mostly human you've met?"

Kal-El smiled sadly and ran a hand through her hair. "I did not say that I was attracted to you."

"No one else has ever bought me that many flowers before, not even close."

"You asked if I intended to make Lana my _True One _and I do not."

She was close enough once again to feel his breath on her cheek. "Who do you intend then?"

"I do not feel comfortable revealing that," he admitted. Backing away from her, he added, "Let us go. We must keep ahead of Isobel and Teague."

"Kal-El!"

"I said that we were leaving," he countered, sweeping her up and blurring her to New York.

Chloe popped back into existence in the middle of Dr. Swann's office and into a fight between Martha Kent and a woman with long, dark hair.

"And if you'd shown up a little earlier with the Black Kryptonite, then I could have had my son back."

The other woman stopped her pacing and glared at Martha. "I got there as soon as I could. We're researchers, Mrs. Kent, we aren't supposed to be here at your beck and call. That's not how it works."

"You're the people who encouraged him to embrace his heritage in the first place. If it had been up to me, the key would still be in the flour bucket in the storm cellar."

"I suspected as much," Kal-El replied coolly, setting Chloe down.

"Clark!" Martha shouted and Chloe watched as she pulled a lead box out from her purse and tried to open it. There was a flash of movement and then the lead box was crumpled in Kal-El's hand.

His eyes were crimson as he glared back at Martha. "I would not do that again. It is not advisable."

Chloe rolled her eyes and slapped Kal-El on the shoulder. "Mrs. Kent, he's not serious. We have a no maiming pact. He's harmless."

"Yes, and now I in no way feel like a trained pet," Kal-El quipped.

Martha stared between the two of them and frowned. "Chloe?"

"Oh crap! I'm supposed to be dead."

"I suppose that cat is out of the bag as well," Kal-El replied, still clutching tightly to whatever was captured inside of the crumpled metal.

"Chloe, what's going on here. What has he told you."

"Martha," Dr. Swann started, pausing for his breathing tube to take another breath. "Kal-El flew through the wall of my office when I was speaking with Chloe. He's had her with him almost since he left your farm."

Martha looked at her and she was so very pale. "Are you going to the Planet?"

"I'm dead, I can't publish anything, even if Lois is letting me borrow her name, and I promised Kal-El I wouldn't. I'm trying to help him."

"Help him?" Martha scoffed.

Chloe could feel him tense beneath her grasp. "We have a huge problem and you don't understand. It's not...okay so it is a crusade that he's on, but it's not like with knights and popes and plague rats or something."

"What?"

"Martha, there are these stones out there that we've been trying to find. If we don't find them first, some very dangerous people like Lionel Luthor will." She sighed, "You know what Clark's ship could do. I think that whatever these things are, they could do so much worse if a Luthor got their hands on them."

"What do they do, Clark?"

"Kal-El, and I am uncertain. My father told me that they could not fall into human hands. I fear what Lionel would do with them or the Countess."

"What Countess?" Martha demanded.

Chloe sighed and pulled the talisman from her purse. "We have a problem. Dr. Swann," she said. "Do you have a contact at the Museum of Natural History? We need to find out exactly where this came from."

Kal-El nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We know that it is from South America but we need to know where. We believe it is the key to finding the third stone."

Dr. Swann considered this. "Bridget?"

"Yes, Virgil?"

"Deliver it yourself to Simon at the museum and tell him I need this identified. In exchange, I'll approve whatever grant he has pending and double what he's asking for."

"Money talks then," she drolled taking the statue from Chloe's hands but not before pausing to stare at Kal-El. "Amazing."

Kal-El narrowed his eyes at her. "If you take a picture, it will last longer."

Chloe giggled. "I appreciate this, ma'am."

"Dr. Crosby," she corrected, hurrying out the door.

"That's it?" Martha demanded. "You stop by to tell me that you two are on a scavenger hunt and you have Lionel and a Countess on your tail?"

"Technically, she is also a witch," Kal-El pointed out.

"A witch? Kal-El, don't be foolish," Dr. Swann chided.

"I am not," he replied, glaring at the doctor. "I explained it to Sull-I-Van. It is simple if you stop to think about it. The Countess Isobel can manipulate energy to displace matter and to injure others. Considering how sensitive I am to absorbing solar radiation, it should not be surprising that she can do me harm if she so wishes."

"Baby," Martha asked, drawing nearer toward them. "Are you injured."

"Kal-El," Chloe hissed in barely a whisper. "Don't show her where you got stabbed. It will make her feel worse and you'll never be able to leave."

"I am fine, Martha, but it does not change the fact that time is of the essence."

"So there's a witch after you?" Dr. Swann asked, still non-plussed.

"And Jason and Genevieve Teague," Chloe added.

Dr. Swann swallowed. "The Teagues?"

"You have heard of them," Kal-El said. It was not a question.

"Yes."

"You will explain now," Kal demanded, squeezing the metal so hard that it crumpled.

"Clark! Don't be rude."

"I am not being rude. He owes me information and I need to have it. Please do not butt into matters that do not concern you, Martha."

"I-"

"Mrs. Kent, please, you didn't meet Jason. We're in a lot of trouble here," Chloe said, patting the other woman's shoulder.

"How do you know the Teagues?" Kal-El asked and the russet tinge to his eyes made Chloe nervous.

"Kal-El, you promised me."

"I will not harm him. I respect my word, Sull-I-Van."

"Dr. Swann, my son asked you a question."

"Do you know what Veritas is?"

"Yeah, I got it wrong on a Latin test once. It means 'truth,'" Chloe added.

"Exactly. I formed a society with three other families-the Queens, the Luthors, and the Teagues. I received a signal from space, one before the shower and the one which came with you, Kal-El. I organized the families with the best access to robotic technology and genetic engineering to help prepare us all."

"For what?" Martha prodded.

"The message was unclear. I feared that there might have been an invasion coming."

Kal-El looked down at his hands and finally dropped the crumpled ball. "I do not wish for that to be the case. I do not know what is to happen with me."

"And I understand that now, Kal-El, but at the time I was trying to be cautious."

"So the Queens were going to outfit soldiers with advanced weaponry and we've seen what happens in Level Three," Chloe added. "What was the Teagues' job?"

"Genevieve was connected to her ancestor Gertrude. She always swore she had psychic dreams. I didn't believe in such nonsense, but I knew that she'd done more to uncover artifacts of questionable terrestrial origin."

"You were using her to look for the writings and objects of my people," Kal-El concluded.

"Yes," Dr. Swann agreed. "But the project fell apart because Lionel and Edward Teague couldn't be trusted. You have a reason to be concerned, Kal-El. Genevieve on her own is ruthless and conniving. If she's partnered with your Countess..."

"I can finish that equation myself," Chloe supplied. "We have two of the stones. We've hidden them somewhere where she can't get to them. We just need the one in South America."

"Then my source should have it pinpointed in 24 hours. Simon is one of the leading experts on Meso-american culture."

"Very well, Dr. Swann. I do appreciate your help."

"Are you glad then, Kal-El, that you didn't kill me earlier?"

"I would never do that," Kal-El replied, his cheeks coloring as Clark's always had. "You're one of the few humans I find truly interesting." He sighed and looked down at her "Sull-I-Van, we can find you a hotel and I can continue the more arcane approach of just scanning and hoping for the best."

She shook her head. "No way." Standing up and leaning in his ear, she added, "You're still recovering. You need your rest too, Kal-El, and you haven't gotten any."

She stepped back and he quirked his head at her in that oddly bird-like motion. "You would like for me to stay with you tonight?"

"Well, not like _that _," she amended.

"It shall be fun. There are hotels in New York, yes?"

She laughed. She wasn't sure if his question was an alien thing or a Clark Kent, earnest farmboy thing, but the naivete was cute. "I think I can find something."

Martha was looking between them with wide eyes. "You can't be serious."

"About what?" Chloe asked, confused.

"I've spent months trying to find Clark and the last seventy-two hours trying to save him." She reached down and picked up the lead crumple Kal-El had made. "Is this all the black Kryptonite you have, Dr. Swann?"

"No, I could procure more."

Kal-El flinched at that. "I would not allow any of you close enough to use it."

Martha held out what she had, but it was hopelessly confined by the lead shielding. "I want my son back."

Kal-El turned to look at her and Chloe noticed how he could barely keep his shoulders up. "He is not coming back, Martha Kent. I am here now."

"I want you gone," she replied.

He nodded, "That seems to be a sentiment many of you have shared. Sull-I-Van, I will be in the Waldorf-Astoria. That is sufficient, is it not?"

"It's fine, Kal-El," she replied, squeezing his forearm, but before she could say anything else, he was gone.

Dr. Swann looked between both of them and started to wheel forward. "I have a feeling this is something that's just between the three of you. Chloe, call my office tomorrow morning and I should have something for you."

"Thanks again, doctor."

"No problem," he replied, wheeling through the door.

"Chloe, what's going on?"

"I'm in witness protection deep underground and I might have, accidentally, hacked your e-mail to see where Clark was. I came to see Dr. Swann after I saw all your S. to him. Kal-El broke in and decided he could use me to help him."

Martha gasped and leaned against Swann's desk. "Has he hurt you?"

Chloe frowned and decided mentioning that one part where he'd broken her wrist would be a bad idea. Besides, she'd healed instantly after that. "No, he's not like that. He's been sweet, actually."

"He pushed me around on the farm," Martha countered. "He's not my son. He's not Clark."

"No, he's not, but he's trying to be a good man. I had the lack of luck to meet the Countess and she's a bad person, Martha. He's trying to stop her."

"I want Clark back. You could help me do that. If I gave you a piece of black Kryptonite, he'd let you in close enough to use it. We both know that he would."

Chloe gaped back at Martha. "I can't do that."

"Don't you want Clark back. Chloe, you had to have started checking up on me because you wanted to save him. Kal-El trusts you for whatever reason. It would be so easy for you to get Clark back."

Chloe hesitated and played with the hem of her sweater. "Kal-El says that Clark's gone and that you can't get him back."

"He has to be lying, Chloe."

"Martha, Kal-El's a person too. If I pulled out the black Kryptonite or meteor rock or whatever on him and he did go away, it would be like murder."

"He stole Clark's place, Chloe. He's not human."

"Neither was Clark, not honestly speaking. Kal-El, he wants to try and I can't take that from him. I won't. I loved Clark. He was my best friend," she added, quickly throwing out that disclaimer. "But I'm not going to hurt Kal-El, either. He trusts me."

"I trusted you."

"Martha, we have a job to do. We'll figure out everything else between you and Kal-El, but I promised him first to save the world."

"Chloe, he's my son."

"And Kal-El's a part of your son, whether you like it or not."

She took a taxi to the Waldorf and found that their reservation was under "Binks." She had to give him credit for creativity, and it still left her amazed which parts of Clark's memory he chose to pilfer through, which parts of pop culture had impressed themselves upon him.

The bellhop took her up all the way to the presidential suite and she assumed that Kal-El had again paid with a flawless diamond and added, "a no questions asked" clause to their room purchase.

Chloe steadied herself and opened the door of the suite with the key the concierge had provided her. Kal-El so owed her for the ten dollar tip she'd had to give the bellhop to get him to leave. She sighed when she found him slumped down in one of the chairs, one long leg tossed carelessly over its arm. He was staring at the fire and she had a feeling he'd started it, himself, and with his eyes. "Kal-El?"

"She does not care for me."

She frowned as she locked the door behind her. "What?"

"Martha Kent wants me gone. I am not a fool. I also heard your conversation, all of it."

"You were half way across town."

"I could hear a conversation in Japan right now if I so chose," he replied. "It is of no consequence." He looked back up at her and he looked so very broken, so human, that it was hard for her to remember who she was dealing with. "You did not want to betray me."

"We promised each other and I keep my promises too, at least to you."

"You mean to Clark."

"No," she replied, stepping forward and grabbing his hand in hers. "To you. I meant what I said. I want Clark back too, but what happened? Clark made a choice, didn't he? He had a chance not to go to his father, to be trained, but he chose to go. He didn't know that he wasn't coming back the same, but he could have done a hundred other things."

"It is not as simple. The construct forced us to go by threatening Jonathan Kent and before that, it was manipulating us with a fake cousin. We were played."

"Oh."

"I should not be here. I have taken Clark's place."

"But you wouldn't know how to get him back, would you?"

"Black Kryptonite...it will not reverse what Jor-El has done, not exactly. Instead, it will split me into both halves and we would be forced to fight it out. Either Clark would win or I would."

"So if we did it, it might kill you?"

"I would go back to being buried deep inside of Clark as I honestly suspect he is buried deep inside of me. I cannot feel him, not the way I think he was aware of my desires, but he might still be there somewhere. I do not want to go back."

"I know."

"No, you do not," he replied, looking up at her. "I love this world. I have only been allowed to explore it for a few days and already it is so beautiful. Clark had fourteen years to enjoy this world and I have had three days. That is not fair."

"But you don't want Martha to hurt like she is."

He nodded. "She protected us when we needed it. She is not Lara, but she is a good mother, and I wish there was another way than to deprive her of her son."

"You do love her, don't you?"

"She is _Clark's _," he corrected.

"She could come around in time, Kal-El."

He frowned at her. "You would rather have Clark back, you did not answer me in the caves."

"You didn't answer me either. I miss my best friend but I like you, too. I wouldn't want to hurt either of you and that's the best answer I have."

"But Clark's the one you love."

Chloe knelt down in front of him and placed both her hands on his knee. "Kal-El, you partnered with me because I'm not stupid. It wouldn't take a genius to see it, not with all you've spent on me, with how surprisingly gentle you've been. You are in love with me, aren't you?"

"How could I not be?" He answered, looking hesitantly down at her.

"Kal-El, I'm flattered, really-"

"I do not need to be let down gently. That is surely not worthy of my House. I would like you to know that the part of Clark that loved you, the part that broke down and took you to Spring Formal?"

"Yes," Chloe asked, her throat dry.

"That was I," he said, reaching down to stroke her hair. "I am not who you want either."

"I have experience on the other end of that, you know," Chloe quipped. "Kal-El, you're injured and tired, no matter what supermetabolism you have, and we're under a lot of stress. Maybe we should just call it a night."

"I shall retire then to the sofa. It folds out. I made sure of that before I took this room," he replied, starting to stand.

"Kal-El," Chloe said, tracing one finger over his chest. "You can stay with me. It would just be literal sleeping, but it would be okay."

"Are you certain?"

"I have pajamas, don't I?"

"Yes, I have arranged for such a thing for both of us."

"Then, just something friendly?"

"You and Clark did not do this particular 'friendly' thing."

"No, I guess not," she replied, slipping into the bedroom and waiting for him to follow her.


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

"You're smirking at me," Chloe accused as she continued with her mission.

Kal-El nodded. "Perhaps just a little. I find you amusing. You have offered the bed, which is already a king-sized and now you are building what appears to be a fort of pillows to separate us. The couch is still available to me if you do not trust my virtue, Sull-I-Van."

Chloe bit her lower lip and already felt her cheeks heating up. "Kal-El, I'm sorry. I just...I haven't ever had any co-ed sleepovers but I thought it would be bitchy to make you sleep on the sofa."

"Maybe, but it does not instill one with confidence that your would rather create some odd hybrid of igloo and fortress to avoid me."

His tone, as wounded as it was, made Chloe chuckle as she began to remove the extra pillows and put them, instead, behind her head. "Did anyone ever tell you that you're actually a huge drama queen?"

"You may have implied it over the last few days," Kal-El conceded.

"It's not anything about you, it's just that I'm not all up for an NC...whoa," she finished eying the pillow that had been laying against his side.

"Whoa what?"

She held it up so that he could see it as well. "Whoa as in, this is covered in blood and I know it's not mine."

Kal-El let out a put upon sigh. "Then I suppose that the Countess's injury was more grievous than I first suspected." He reported that fact as casually as someone else might have quoted the weather.

"Take it off, now."

"Excuse me, Sull-I-Van?" Kal-El asked and the look of confused panic on his face was pure Clark Kent.

"You're t-short, oh fearsome ALF," she replied, tugging at it's hem. "You have to let me see it."

"Sull-I-Van, it is not necessary."

"Bullshit!" She hissed, clawing at the shirt until Kal-El finally deemed taking it off the lesser of two evils.

Sitting up, he pulled the shirt over his head, and Chloe could see where the bottom right side was stained almost black. Idly, she wondered if the blood really were black until she remembered she'd seen Clark bleed before, not often, but a few times back in middle school. The wound was deeper than he'd admitted it was to her and it was still bleeding. Chloe assumed that the slight trickle was a side effect of the witch's blade since, alien or not, Kal-El's blood should have coagulated by now.

But it wasn't the wound that grabbed her attention the most. It was massive scar that covered the entirety of Kal-El's chest, a nasty mess of burned flesh that roughly resembled the sigil that had been cut into the Chinese stone.

Chloe took in a sharp breath. "Kal-El, what the Hell is that?"

He looked down at her and his jaw was clenched. "You know what the symbol is, that it represents the House of El. I fail to understand why you are so surprised by it."

"I saw a hint of it the first day, but it's huge. How did you...what can even burn you?"

Kal-El held his head up with the regal authority that Clark had shown in glimpses over the years. "My father gave it to me a year ago and he gave it back when I was reborn. It is an honor bestowed upon me so that I will never forget my family."

"And he couldn't just have you tie a string around your finger?" she huffed, reaching out her hand to his wound.

Kal-El winced just slightly. "Why are you touching it?"

"Because, I'm going to fix it. I can make you hurt and I can heal myself. Why can't I heal you too?"

"I do not understand."

She rolled her eyes. "I've been thinking about it, about this ability I have, and it's not health for me and it's not about injuring other people. I mean, yeah, I can do that," she said, closing her eyes and concentrating on his side, on thinking about how much it must be hurting him, even if he hadn't said anything. She concentrated on him, on what it must feel like to him for it to be eased, of the relief he had to be seeking.

She didn't need her eyes open to know that the light had been seeping through her fingers and was spreading over him. She could feel it, just as she could feel the stabbing pain in her side. It hurt and Chloe bit her lip to keep from screaming, bit so hard that she tasted blood.

Light-headed, she could no longer maintain her concentration and she sagged into his arms. Long fingers stroked through her hair, "Sull-I-Van?"

Opening her eyes, she wheezed a little as she spoke. "Kal-El, how are you feeling?"

"I am fine and I do mean that. There is no pain at all. How are you is the more operative question."

"It hurts, but it's fading. I told you I figured it all out."

"And?"

"I'm an empath. I take pain away or reflect it. Since I can heal other people so well, it kind of rubs off on me."

Kal-El considered that. "It is most fascinating. I am glad it is your power."

"Because I can kick your ass, right?"

"No, you have not quite succeeded in that. I meant because it means that you are exceedingly healthy."

"I'll say, except for what _feels _like a gaping stab wound in my side."

Kal-El smiled. "Perhaps I will not be alone."

"Huh?"

"I do not get hurt or sick, except for the rocks and what Isobel can do. I shall live for a long time. I am not quite immortal but I am surely destined to outlive everyone I have ever met."

"But you don't think that includes me?" Chloe asked and she realized that he had not stopped stroking her hair. She glanced up at his right wrist and he blushed, suddenly realizing himself how familiar he'd been with her.

"I apologize. You had worried me, Sull-I-Van. I did not intend to presume anything," he said, dropping his hand to his side.

Chloe missed the sensation immediately. "Maybe I won't. I just heal."

"As do I," he insisted and there was something endearingly hopeful in his gaze, like a child at Christmas, and it reminded her that, despite his proclamations, Kal-El was, in his own way, naive and so very new to the world around him.

"Well, then, it's a good thing I have a Starsky," Chloe replied, shoving aside her queasiness at the thought of an increased lifespan. "Kal-El?"

"Yes?"

"I...don't take this the wrong way, but can I touch your chest?"

He grinned at her. "What other way is there to take that?"

"Alien my ass. All seventeen year old boys are the same," she huffed.

"I understood the request perfectly. You wish to touch my scar is what you meant."

She nodded. "Yes."

"Very well," he said, turning toward her. She'd had more dreams than she wanted to admit that started out this way, with Clark's chest open to her, barely lit by moonlight. But despite how beautiful Kal-El was and, naturally, he was every bit as attractive has Clark had been, there was nothing erotic in this, just concern.

She touched her fingers lightly to the figure eight at the center and he hissed. "It hurts, doesn't it?"

"It is always going to be sensitive," he amended. "It does not hurt the way it did in Metropolis last summer. What we dosed ourselves with does not react well with the scar tissue. It was most painful. Now, it is merely uncomfortable."

"He didn't have to do this," she said, and now she was aware that she was touching him more than was absolutely necessary.

"It was what he deemed necessary. I am not to question my father."

"But it's not him, right? It's something from your ship, isn't it?"

He nodded. "But it is his memory and will, the closest thing I have to getting him back. He is not like the Jor-El I learned about, not as gentle, but he is still my father."

"He hurt you."

"He wanted to have Clark's undivided attention. It was hard for him to pay attention to anything."

"Because of Lana?"

"She was part of it," he said, shifting a little under her touch but not moving away from her. "But that was not all. Clark was very dedicated to having a human life. It was a distraction."

"And you don't want the same thing?"

"I have no interest in pushing a plough ever again. I have no interest in wasting decades on a farm in the middle of nowhere, of being expedient."

"The Kents didn't mean-"

He shook his head. "I believe that they did not, but it was easy. You saw how quickly the farm fell into debt without us last summer. Our strength was the only thing that kept it running for years. They eventually took advantage of it. Pete took advantage of me. I am sick of being taken advantage of. Clark allowed himself to be domesticated by all of you. I will not make that mistake."

"So you'll be alone?"

He gripped her hand and held it against his chest. It was like a furnace; he was that warm. Leaning close to her, he added, "No, I do not plan to do that, but there is a medium. There is an answer in which I do not pretend to be something I am not, in which I am not supposed to be ashamed of my superiority."

Chloe swallowed. "Where you-"

"I do not know. Where I save the world and then I find out what my destiny holds. Where I move past Clark's foolish obsession with a girl who is not worthy of us. Where I am loved for exactly _what _I am." He dropped her hand and turned away, putting his back to her as he laid down on the mattress.

"Is this about me or Martha?"

"I told you that it matters little what she thinks of me. My mother has been dead for almost twenty years, and I promised you that I would not pressure. I understand that I can never be him."

"Kal-El, Martha...she might understand eventually."

He sighed and his voice, for the first time, sounded vulnerable and not arrogant. "I am the alien who stole her son away. She will never understand that."

"I do."

"Do you?"

She nodded and slipped her arms around his waist. "You didn't steal anything. Jor-El did this and now you're here and you have every right to be alive."

"Sull-I-Van, what are you doing?"

"I left my teddy bear at home," she defended weakly.

"I see."

"I can always take the couch."

"No," he replied, yawning-and who knew aliens yawned. "This is most agreeable."

"I know," she said, falling into an easier sleep than she had since the Spring Formal had ended in disaster, and, the entire night, she thought not once about Clark.

The phone rang at seven AM. Chloe was not happy. In the last few days she'd been from Kansas to New York to Paris to Shanghai and back to Kansas and New York again. Add to that trying to calm Martha Kent and dealing with an unpredictable E.T., and she was beat. Super healing metabolism, her ass. She just needed another three hours or maybe five.

Yeah, they could save the world at noon.

Kal-El dislodged himself from her grasp and picked up the phone. "Yes? Dr. Swann, thank you for your prompt reply. 8 AM at the Natural History Museum, second floor with Dr. Snyder. Yes, we can most assuredly be there. Yes, we shall share what we find with you. Good day, doctor."

Chloe groaned when he pulled the covers off of her. "No, sleeping."

"If the world fell into dark chaos because the Countess achieved unlimited power, then your excuse to everyone else would be you needed a nap?"

"Fuck you."

"No, that is certainly not happening," he replied, snippily. "Sull-I-Van, you have five minutes and then we're leaving."

"You're bossy," she replied, sitting up and blinking when she realized he was already dressed. "Stupid superspeed."

He tossed her a pair of jeans and a stretchy red top from some unlimited supply he had that materialized out of nowhere. "May I watch?"

"You really are seventeen, aren't you?"

"As far as my...as the Kents could estimate, I believe so. You cannot blame one for trying," he replied, before blurring into the living room.

"No X-ray vision!"

"I would never."

She rolled her eyes and pulled her clothing on with her back to him. "Do you think they use lead paint in luxury hotels?"

"I would think not."

"You are peaking, aren't you?"

"I am not."

"You are a shitty liar."

"This is true. You have a nice back."

"Stupid horny aliens."

"I heard that."

"I know," she replied, grabbing her wallet and shoving on the sandals he'd also provided. Stepping out into the living room, she shook her head at him. "You're not really all that above everything are you?"

He arched an eyebrow at her. "You are an exception, Sull-I-Van."

"Right," she riposted, then frowned. "You're not normally attracted to human girls, then?"

"Neither Clark nor I have ever been attracted to a normal girl."

She rolled her eyes. "Because of Lana's mythic beauty?"

"No, because she is as infected as you are. She has not manifested, as far as I can tell, but she wore a meteorite around her neck for over a decade. Clark was attracted to her normalcy but he was also attracted, despite himself, to her potential for power."

She frowned as he scooped her up. "I thought Clark was the human part?"

"And yet, even that is not as simple as it appeared to be. He still could not deny certain things. He was born Kryptonian and we are both above mere human girls."

"Oh I feel so honored."

"But he was still looking for a white picket fence and a minivan."

She looked into his eyes and realized how close to each other they were. "You're not."

"No," and with that, they were speeding off to the museum.


	9. Chapter 9

9

Dr. Snyder was a rotund little man with thick glasses and a lab coat that hadn't been changed in three days. She could tell by the collected Cheetos stains on the pockets. She supposed there was a reason for those nutty professor stereotypes and, honestly, in order to be an expert on meso-american culture, he probably had never left his lab in twenty years to do that.

"Miss Lane, Mr. Kent, what Virgil sent over was extraordinary. Please come in." He reached out to shake her hand and she appeased him, grimacing just a little at the feel of cheese dust on her palm.

Kal-El ducked around him as he took his seat in the cramped office.

Dr. Snyder didn't sit down, but instead started to pace excitedly in front of them, with the artifact clutched to his chest the way a young mother might cling to her child. "This is an exquisite piece, easily eleven hundred years old."

"Really?" Chloe asked.

"Definitely. It's a representation of the Mayan Rain God Chaac, dating from approximately 800 A.D."

"Alright, that's something," she said.

"Would you like to actually know about Chaac?"

"Of course, doctor," Kal-El replied quietly.

"Chaac was a rain good, worshipped in part for his connection to maize. He was also tied often to nubile young women." The doctor stammered a little over that part and avoided eye contact with Chloe. "He's not shown to be as noble as Thor nor as vindictive and prone to his more human appetites as Zeus, but he is a corollary to those deities."

"Fascinating," Chloe said, faking enthusiasm. She'd never been a history lover. "But where is it from?"

"It most likely originated from the lost city of Tikal in Guatemala. I had a colleague in pollen and seeds run an analysis and the vegetation mostly matches up with the indigenous plant life found there."

"Mostly?" Kal-El prodded and it amazed her that the two of them could fall into such a rhythm.

"Yes, there are seed particles from Middle Ages China, which made little sense."

"We found it in China, sir," Kal-El clarified, slouching just a little.

Oh so we were back to channeling Clark.

"I don't understand. Why were you kids even there and allowed to remove artifacts?"

"It came from a temple in Shanghai," Kal-El continued. "My relatives are the caretakers for it and they allowed me to bring the artifact here for analysis. It's completely sanctioned, I swear it."

Chloe smirked. Now Kal-El was giving the Clark Kent puppy eyes and no one had ever been able to resist those.

"I see, well, it's definitely from that region. I have no idea how something this old would even get to China. The markings etched on it are strange too. Most of it is typical of Tikal sculptures but there are a few symbols that I've never seen anywhere. They're not Mayan."

"Kryptonian?" Chloe asked, under her breath.

Kal-El gave a slight nod. "Well we really, really appreciated everything and I'm sure the museum is going to be happy to have it."

"We can keep it?"

"It, uh, didn't match with the rest of the temple," he offered.

The doctor narrowed his eyes. "I see."

"Clark means that it was an official donation. Please take good care of it," Chloe finished, standing up. "So, Clark, are you coming?"

Kal-El nodded and followed her out the door. She didn't even get a chance to speak before he swept her up and they were staring back at huge stone monoliths and infinite stairways.

Chloe blinked back at the verdant forest surrounding the clearing and started mopping at her forehead. It was like a thousand degrees where they were. "Jesus, little warning?"

"We are on a limited time frame. Besides, I do not enjoy perpetrating the charade any longer than is necessary."

She rolled her eyes. "I am getting partnered with a less high strung visitor next time. You're snippy because I kept calling you 'Clark.' Oh please, it's not like I could call you 'Kal-El' in front of him. That would have been ridiculous."

"It is not that, although it is not something I enjoy hearing. I am slightly disturbed by the actions of my ancestors."

"Why?"

"You did not hear what he said?"

"Yeah, rain god, so what?"

"And in China we were represented with dragons and the statue itself was reptilian."

"Uh-huh."

"They created temples for both my ancestors and I've no doubt that there is a pyramid in Egypt as well. Rain god, he was worshipped because he used his powers to shape the weather."

"But you can't do that."

He quirked his head at her and considered her words. "Of course I could." He took a deep breath and expelled a large and long gust of air and Chloe was surprised to feel the air around her cool.

"What the Hell?"

"I can fly and I can breathe out a ludicrous amount of cold air. I could make it rain if I so wished. I could breathe out a tornado, if I were motivated. One of us would look to a more primitive people like a weather god."

"Okay, so he took it a little far."

"And managed to establish some kind of harem," Kal-El replied, the scorn clear in his voice.

Chloe shook her head. "You've been trying to seduce me."

"No," he replied firmly. "I have known you for four years and I have been courting. That is dignified. I have not established something ridiculous like vestal virgins."

She sighed and looked back up at him. "You're upset because they established a cult."

"Perhaps," he admitted. "I do not wish to be worshipped. Clark and I both agreed on this point."

"And I haven't started bowing and then making prayers to you either. If you don't want to start a religion, don't do it," she added, starting to the center of the valley.

"But if my father wants me to become a god, I fear sometimes that I cannot escape that, no matter what else I would wish."

"You don't have to do everything you father wanted," she corrected. "Even Clark and Mr. Kent clashed. You could embrace your inner rebel without a cause."

"Perhaps," he replied, stopping with her in front of one of the tour guides. "So you do not see me as a god, Sull-I-Van?"

"Do I need to remind you how many times you ate pavement in middle school."

"That is unfair. There was Kryptonite involved."

"I know you munched a tulip. I'm not awed, Kal-El."

He grinned at that, his smile blinding. "That is good," he replied, and then he turned to the guide. "Buenos. Estemos buscando una piedra especial."

"Otra?" The guide, a slight girl with her hair pulled back into a long pony tail asked.

Kal-El's expression darkened and Chloe wished she'd taken Spanish. "Que significa 'otra?'"

"Por dos meses un senor de los Estados Unidos estaba aqui buscando una piedra tambien. Pienso que se llama Leon? Quizas Leon? El Sr. Luthor? Lo conoce?"

Chloe swallowed. She knew Lionel's name when she heard it. "What?"

"El Sr. Luthor. El ha encontrado un objeto aqui."

"She says that Lionel was digging here for several months and that he found an artifact like the one we were looking for."

"Lionel has it?"

"Yes, it would appear so."

"What do we do now?"

"We," he replied stiffly and she could feel the rigidity in his posture as well. "shall return to Dr. Swann's. He may have the resources to determine where Lionel has hidden his treasure."

"Kal-El," Dr. Swann replied as they entered into his living room. "I appreciate that haven't burst through the wall this time."

"I find the doorbell has its uses," he riposted, holding the door to the living room open so that she could slip through it. Again, she wasn't sure if he was acting out of Clark's politeness or the nobility that he'd been born into. Maybe it was just a mixture of both.

She laughed and found herself clutching his hand. "Really, you've got that whole sense of humor thing going really well now."

"It is not as hard as one would think. Clark was not trying."

She quirked her head and smiled at Dr. Swann. "You're th closest thing I know to a Kryptonian expert. Is it a good thing to be competing with yourself?"

Dr. Swann eyed Kal-El. "I'm not getting into the squabbles, Miss Sullivan."

"Wise decision," Kal-El replied. "And it is not a competition. I am better than Clark."

"Oh brother," Chloe grumped. "Dr. Swann, we have a problem."

"You seem to have a lot of those," he replied.

"Comedians, I'm surrounded by comedians."

"But we are worth the price of admission," Kal-El added. "Dr. Swann, we were able to find the correct location of the stone thanks to your contact. However, Lionel Luthor has pillaged that area first."

Swann blinked. "He did what?"

"Lionel Luthor has in his possession the final stone for which I am questing," Kal-El replied. "I do not know if he has it on his person or if it is hidden within the bowels of his company. We were hoping that you may be able to aid us in this segment of our search."

"You realized you couldn't smash through LuthorCorp and penitentiary walls."

"Do you think Lionel has it in prison?" Chloe asked.

"It is possible," Kal-El conceded. "We saw a movie once where a man had rocks and a very small pick for shaping them in prison."

"Stephen King movies don't count."

"And it's Lionel. If anyone can bend the rules to have a few extra accessories in prison, then it would be him," Swann admitted, frowning. "I can start asking around. We all use the same security companies. There are only so many exclusive vaults in the world. If someone's heard a rumor, I might be able to find it."

"If it is is his cell?" Kal-El prodded.

"I don't know about that. That's much more complicated. You could break into the prison any time you wanted."

"But it will take time to pinpoint which cell and times in which he is not present. I move faster than the human eye can see or than a camera frame can catch, but I do not wish to draw attention to the theft. It would put him on high alert. As he is, he cannot gain access to the only thing that makes the stones function."

"How does that work?" Chloe asked.

Kal-El said nothing but pulled a small silver disk from his pocket. "It is complicated, but the stones must be placed in that structure I showed to you and then the key must be added. I do not know what would happen if a human attempted it. Isobel may yet survive it, but it is still not preferable for him to have the element. The stones were alleged to have unique properties on their own, even without the others."

"Like?"

"The information provided to me insisted that the 'water' stone could displace energy."

"Like a ray gun?" Chloe asked and she sighed when both Swann and Kal-El snorted at her. "Sorry, forgive me for not being up on all the science stuff. Like what?"

"Body-swapping," Kal-El finished.

She laughed. "Come on, that's ridiculous."

"As are aliens and witches?" he countered.

"My life got so weird when I met you."

His shoulders slumped a little. "Of this fact I am aware, Sull-I-Van."

She squeezed his hand and was thrilled by the smile it elicited. "I like it."

Swann looked between the two of them as well as he could manage. "That's not business related."

"What?" she asked.

The doctor smirked. "Puppy love."

"What?" Chloe asked again, dropping his hand. "No, it's just...I was...never mind. Who knows how to break into the pen best?"

"We could begin by hacking into the records and determining which cell. Perhaps we merely need to compromise the guard. This works to our advantage. The Countess does not know that we have the second stone or that the third is no longer where it was left all those centuries ago. We have time yet to determine the most discreet way to pry it away from Lionel. Virgil, there are computers here I trust?"

"Yes and I no longer get to be honored as doctor?"

"The puppy love comment was unfair and childish. Besides, I have forgotten more about physics than you will ever know," Kal-El replied. "I shall find the computer on my own." With that, he'd blurred away.

Chloe sighed and leaned back against the sofa. "He's sensitive."

"I can see that," Dr. Swann replied. "He's amazing."

"Of course, infinite superpowers or close enough, trained in a lot of knowledge from that computer that likes the brand him."

"What?"

"The computer that's been training him, that got rid of Clark in the first place?"

"Yes."

"It's abusive and I don't like it. It scarred his whole chest permanently."

Dr. Swann frowned. "So you're saying that Kal-El is answering to a machine which believes in corporal punishment? Does Kal-El share that philosophy?"

"Why?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "Are you worried?"

"Of course, I've seen his strength. If he ever thought it was fine to brand someone..."

"He doesn't. He doesn't want to talk about it, ever, but I think it upset him a lot. Whatever the ship or the computer or whatever it is wants, it scares him. He doesn't want to conquer anything any more than Clark apparently did."

"I see."

"You've seen him. He's brilliant and he's gentle. He was impatient at first, but he's so much better than when we started. I...he's a good person."

"You don't have to convince me, Miss Sullivan. I find him fascinating. I've waited my entire lifetime to meet someone like him. I didn't expect him to be like he is."

"Wall-breaking?"

"No, I didn't expect him to have a sense of humor at all, to be so human."

"Well Clark was there for a long time or he is. I'm kind of confused on how it all works."

"I only met Clark when he was his most stressed. Somehow, though, I don't think their personalities are the same."

She grinned, despite herself. "Kal-El doesn't have the exact same worries Clark did. He can joke a little about his powers and Clark never could."

"Kal-El is clearly smitten with you. It's why he's in competition with, for lack of a better term, himself."

"Kal-El and I are friends," she replied, tugging at one long strand of chestnut hair uneasily. "He's sweet and I care about him, but we're not like that. I loved Clark."

"I see."

"I can't see Kal-El and _not _see Clark in him and that would never be fair to him," she finished, ignoring how last night, Clark had been the furthest thing from her mind. "We talked about it and he agreed to stay friends."

"He looks at you the way I looked at Dr. Crosby once upon a time. It's more than that to him, Chloe."

She squared her chin. "Dr. Swann, you're a great help and I really appreciate it, but I don't feel comfortable talking with you about all of this."

"I understand that but I have to tell you something and it's as the last living and honorable member of Veritas."

"What's that?"

"You have to be gentle with him. I'd hate for him to take up his father's conquest because you broke his heart."

"So I fail to let him down easy and we have a new King of Earth?"

"Maybe. You're playing for keeps, Miss Sullivan, don't forget that."

Kal-El spent the rest of the afternoon on the computer. She decided to give him space to work and to let herself rest. It was too much for her, not the quest itself, just the pace, and he didn't need the rest the way she did. When Dr. Swann's chef announced that dinner was almost ready, she finally dared to enter the study.

"Hey, E.T., do you want dinner?"

"I do not find that amusing," he groused.

She sighed and pulled a chair up next to him at the old, roll top desk. "You used to. You can call me Katie Couric if you want. The real Lois always does."

"I do not wish to do that, either," he snapped. "I do not find it amusing that I am so easily perceived as the alien whose wrath you cannot afford to incur."

"You know, you're lucky I'm not Pete because that's a lot of SAT words in one sentence."

"Fine. You can be a real bitch sometimes, Chlo."

She reeled back at that. He'd used the nickname on purpose. "Excuse me? I can be a bitch? You're giving that queen from _Alien _a run for her money in the pissy mood department."

"Are there any other insults you've missed?" He snapped. "Maybe there's a _Men in Black _or _Mac and Me _joke you've missed too."

"Don't."

"Don't what?" he asked, finally turning from his computer to look at her.

"Don't talk like he would have. That's not fair. What do you even want from me? My best friend...he's dead, isn't he?"

"Clark is buried, I believe. It is not quite the same."

"But he's not coming back."

"Not as long as I am alive, no."

"Then you have to give me a chance to deal with all of this. I'm here and we're friends. I like you and we're a great team. Hell, we're a better team than Clark and I ever were, but I can't fix everything at once. I know what it's like to be strung along and I'm not doing it to you. I'd never do that to anyone because it feels like being torn in two."

"Choice euphemism," he noted.

"Sorry. I just know that it's worse to have false hope. Clark didn't mean to. I don't think he'd ever be deliberately mean to anybody, but it hurt. He played me."

"No, Sull-I-Van, he did not," Kal-El concluded, shutting the laptop back up.

"Fine, then Clark only loved Lana, same difference."

Kal-El sighed and stroked her cheek and she felt herself relaxing into his embrace. "We both cared about you. Clark valued your friendship very much, and I love you. It is my fault that you were played as you were. I drove Clark in a way he could not understand and was never comfortable with. Rejecting you was more about rejecting me than it ever was about your own worth. Do not doubt yourself because we were so flawed."

Chloe closed her eyes and sighed. "You'll always talk like that, won't you?"

"Like what?"

"You'll always say 'we' sometimes. It hurts so much to hear you talk about him and, somehow, it hurts more to hear you talk about both of you together. I wish anyone had known, even your parents."

"_ His _."

"_ Yours _," she insisted, placing her hand over the one cupping her cheek. "I didn't know how pained you both were."

"It was not for Clark to share. That was the order and he respected it. The one time he strayed, it did not end well. I have accepted how things were. I only regret that I hurt you."

She pushed his hand down gently. "I know you weren't trying to. I...the last few days I understand a lot more about Clark than I ever thought I would."

"And?"

"And you were both dealing with things no one ever has and you both did really well. The multiple personality thing aside, you two are both good people...were...same difference."

"I am still sorry."

"Don't be," she said, forcing herself to smile. "I'm sorry I can't be more for you."

"It is alright. In some ways, I suppose it is supreme irony at work, although, I have always loved you."

"It was running through your mind all day?" she asked, her voice breaking a little.

He stood up and nodded. "Yes, it was. I understand Virgil's fear. It is understandable, considering what I have the power to do. I will not do it, however. It is beneath my House to hurt anyone in a fit of pique. It is not something I would ever do. No matter what happens between us, do not fear that it would end the world."

"That's a lot of pressure to put on a relationship," she quipped.

"We are friends, yes?"

"Of course."

"Then, Diane Sawyer, we shall have dinner and then fight evil."

"Is there dessert in between, Spock?"

"I can smell that there is," he replied, holding his head in a way that vaguely resembled a hunting dog on the scent of a rabbit.

"You're so damn colorful."


	10. Chapter 10

**10**

Dinner was awkward. Martha was staying with Dr. Swann until her flight back to Metropolis in the morning and so the four of them ate together. Okay, so the three of them ate and Dr. Swann had already had his meal. It was a necessary evil. He had an assistant for those sort of things but they could hardly sit in while Kal-El and Swann discussed business. It was just too sensitive. So Dr. Swann presided over the tense meal shared between her, Kal-El, and his mother.

She was spooning mashed potatoes into her mouth as Kal-El and Dr. Swann chatter animatedly about physics. She'd lost them somewhere around the mention of the first square root, but it was amazing to watch. Kal-El brightened while he discussed science, even when he paused to give Swann a condescending correction to something as inconsequential as a Nobel prize winning theory. But they sat and discussed the stars and jet propulsion and everything in between, and she could see the joy it brought him.

She had seen that what seemed like forever ago in Clark's face whenever he'd talked about astronomy. Then Lex had come and the weight of the world had settled onto her friend's broad shoulders and a lot of that light had died out from his green eyes.

"Kal-El, pardon me for bringing up what may be a sensitive subject," Dr. Swann began.

"It does depend on the subject, Virgil," Kal-El rejoined politely.

"I assure you it is still mostly business. I wanted to know if you remembered your home planet. I've spent decades researching Krypton and I still feel like I don't know anything about it."

Kal-El smiled sadly and set his utensils down on his plate. "I do not remember all that much. I was an infant when I was sent away."

Martha had stopped eating at this point and was sipping on her water. Chloe felt like the other woman was also waiting for Kal-El's full response.

"Was there anything?"

Kal-El paused and considered Martha and then looked back at Dr. Swann. "It was a beautiful world. The sun was red and the sky was always sunset. Sometimes, when I sleep, I can see the moons still hanging impossibly low in the horizon."

Dr. Swann deflated a little at that. "That's it?"

"It is all that is worth remembering," he replied, staring meaningfully at Martha and Chloe's reporter instincts told her that there was a story she was missing.

"There are other things, Virgil," Martha replied. "Kal-El must have a selective memory. Clark told me once that he remembered his birth mother and father, that he remembered the day he was sent away and a little about the house he was sent away from. He said it looked like everything was carved out of ice."

"Crystal," Kal-El corrected. "We built everything out of crystals. I did not wish to bring up that memory because it hurts you, Martha Kent, and I did not want to do that."

Martha glared back at Kal-El and Chloe'd seen that anger before, although mostly during times she and Clark had done something stupid, like that time they'd broken her kitchen window throwing a frozen bag of peas in the house (long story). "Now, you don't want to make me upset?"

He nodded. "Exactly. We did not start off well and I apologize for that. I was trying to fulfill my father's wishes and I was acting impetuously. I was rude and that is inexcusable."

"I see."

"I am sorry, Martha Kent."

"So you say."

"Mrs. Kent-" Chloe started.

"Kal-El, you manhandled me and broke a picture of Clark's father. You insulted my husband and disregarded my family. I'm supposed to forgive you for that. I'm supposed to forgive you for stealing Clark's place?"

"I did not steal Clark's place," he insisted. "I could not control what my father was going to do. I can only live with the consequences. I have explained to Sull-I-Van how this works. I was there for all of it. I have been there since the beginning. I was the child in the cornfield you took home, the one to whom you taught English. I knew you before Clark did and I...you are not Lara."

"No, I'm not."

"Lara?" Chloe asked, still confused on the name she'd heard a few times now.

"Kal-El's biological mother," Martha supplied.

"Oh."

"You are not Lara but you protected me and Clark. You loved us."

"I love Clark, and I want him back," she replied, her tone clipped. Shaking her head, she set the silver ware back on her plate and stood up. "I can't pretend any more tonight. Virgil, Chloe, good night."

Chloe took Kal-El's hand and flinched with him at the omission of his name. "Mrs. Kent, it's not pretending."

"I miss my son," she replied, and her voice was hoarse with the effort.

"Mother," Kal-El started, his cadence still formal. "I have not vanished."

She shook her head and started through the hallway. "Don't do that again, please. Good night, Kal-El."

She was gone for several minutes before Kal-El made a move to leave his place. Chloe's hand clutching his kept him from moving. "Please don't go, Kal-El."

"I am not longer hungry, although the pie does smell aromatic. I...do you have a balcony, Dr. Swann?"

"I do."

"May I see it?"

"Of course."

Kal-El stood and Chloe was still clutching his hand, refusing to let it go. "Don't leave."

"Chloe."

"I don't want you to be alone right now."

He sighed as they started walking down the hall to the room Dr. Swann had indicated. "I am always alone. That is the legacy I inherited the day my race died out. It is who I shall always be."

"I don't believe that. The Kawatchee believe differently too."

"There is no True One. It must be a myth," he replied as they stepped out into the cool night air. September was coming faster than Chloe realized.

"Maybe she's not me, but there has to be someone for you. Isn't there someone for everyone?"

"As in a Hallmark card?" he asked, leaning against the railing of the balcony, the one which looked out onto the park.

"You're cynical?"

"I have been alive fully for four days. I have no longer been born yesterday and I suppose I have grown up."

Chloe sighed. "Life sucks sometimes."

"Hardly prosaic."

"It's true," she said, leaning against him. "I promise I'm not going anywhere, though. We'll be friends for as long as I'm around, okay?"

"That is a start."

"And we can be colorful together. I'll glow and you can, um, blow a tornado."

"I thought you might say that I could fly."

"Could we? Every time you've done it before, it's been so fast, that I've missed it. It's like a blur."

He bent down and looked into her eyes. His were so blue, like Crater Lake on hot July morning. Clark wasn't there with her and, like the night before, she didn't miss him. "Would that be considered courtship as well?"

"Maybe it could be."

"Am I the only one who is confused about his life now?"

"No, you're not."

He smiled and gripped her chin between two strong fingers. "Then we shall go flying and not think of anything at all. Surely 'friends' go flying together."

"Oh, all the time, totally."

"Very well then," he replied, picking her up and Chloe shrieked in excitement as they pulled away from the balcony.

"Are you afraid, Sull-I-Van?"

She nestled her head against his chest as they rose high above the skyline. "No, I'm safe with you aren't I?"

"I would suffer through Kryptonite a dozen times over before I dropped you."

She leaned in ever closer, feeling his heartbeat reverberating through his broad chest, "I know."

They floated gently through the night, above the cityscape, hidden by the twilight, not that Kal-El would worry about exposure anymore. She doubted that he would ever worry about that. It was slightly chilly and she curled tighter up against him, feeling the warmth seep off of his body. They didn't say anything for a long time, just drifted as she watched the crowds pass by. She thought he needed the quiet.

Finally, Kal-El surprised her, by landing discreetly on one of the rooftops in Times Square. He sat down as close to the edge as he dared (probably in deference to her), and stared down at the twinkling display.

Chloe siddled next to him, keeping a comfortable distance between them, but occasionally having her shoulder touch his. "I didn't expect you to stop here."

"I had considered someplace more scenic, perhaps something trite like the statue of liberty, but there is something appealing in this place."

"They cleaned it up. No hookers or anything."

Kal-El eyed her skeptically. "We did not have those."

"Wow, that's so not the burning question on the sharing parade circuit."

Kal-El nodded. "I suppose that would not be the first question asked to me, unless I started with MTV and moved my way up the journalistic ladder."

"You are going to tell people some day, aren't you?" She asked, her heart quickening.

"Not today and not until after I have used the stones for whatever their purpose, but one day, I will tell the world all that I am."

She sighed, "Kal-El, that would be dangerous."

"No one knows about my weaknesses outside of Martha Kent, Pete Ross, and Dr. Swann. Even you do not know all of them."

"Black meteor rocks and witches?"

"Neither are common," he admitted. "I do not intend to make my weaknesses public, only a fool would do that. So, yes, some day, the world will know."

"None of that anonymity thing, huh?"

"I do not want to be famous, but I think that it is time. Not immediately, but I meant in general. Humans have been visited by my people for years. There are so many other races out there. I will not be your only contact even in this lifetime. The ignorance is no longer safe."

"Color me confused. I'm pretty sure I don't see a whole bunch of aliens running around."

"As you did not see me?" He replied, grinning slightly.

"Well, okay, but you know what I meant."

"I am not the only alien here. There is a Martian, in this city even."

"How do you know that?"

He sighed. "He worked for my father as a bounty hunter of sorts. He was a law enforcement officer on his own planet before that."

"And he was all the way on Krypton?"

Kal-El nodded sadly, "I am not the only member of a dead world, either. I shall seek J'onn out in time, but I am not ready for that yet. I am only four days old, you know."

"Baby steps?"

"I should think so. You would find him more interesting than I am. He does not look human in the least but he is a shapeshifter so it is a moot point."

"Are there more of you passing here?"

He sighed. "I only know of him because he was my father's assistant. I do not know of any others, but logically, if there are two then there should be more. There are billions of worlds out there."

"I know. I think I was the one insisting on investigating that mysterious cow disturbance!"

Kal-El held his chin up haughtily. "My people have never mutilated anything."

"Are you sure?"

"There are some things that assuredly must never have been true."

"Yeah right, don't be so sensitive."

"And there was no probing," he insisted.

She snickered. "Yeah, you definitely protest too much." She leaned against him. "I always believed in aliens, I just didn't think there was one sitting next to me."

"I am a surprise."

"That's an understatement."

He beamed at that. "Thank you, Sull-I-Van."

"Kal-El?"

"Yes?" he asked, gazing down at the neon yellow marquee for The Lion King ."

"Which one is yours?"

"What?"

"I...it's actually clear for once here, which one is yours?"

He looked back at her and his smile was the saddest thing she'd ever seen. "There is no star, Sull-I-Van. It has not shown for millennia."

"But you're seventeen."

"And there is a reason we tutored you through physics. There is no sun. It burned out after our planet died. It has taken long to travel here, while it feel as though my parents have been dead for several decades, the entire solar system has been gone for eons. Relativity, remember?"

"Not really," she admitted. "It never seemed all that applicable to me, you know?"

"It has always applied for my life," he conceded. "I have nothing to look for in the night's sky. There is a constellation of the Kawatchee where the star should have been, but there is no light to look toward. I like to imagine sometimes that there are different ones for me, so that I may have one to watch."

"Oh," she replied, rubbing his shoulder.

"It is a game and I have played it often. Sometimes we wondered what our life would have been like there. I know now what would have been expected of me, what the culture would have been. But after my... the Kents told us, we spent almost two years just wondering what we could have been."

"Do you regret it?"

"What?"

"That you have no home anymore, that you could never go back?"

"Sometimes I think it would have been easier, but that is an illusion. Had I been there, had the planet not died out, there would still be complications, difficulties. Life sucks, yes?"

"I'm corrupting your vocabulary."

"Fuck no," he replied, smirking at her. "It would have been a different life, perhaps not better. Clark always thought things would be better if they just changed."

"And you?"

"I am here now. There is no way to change what I am or what befell my family. So I move on. There are consolations," he replied, stroking her hair for a second.

"Uh, yeah."

"Do you ever think about your mother?"

"What?"

"You asked me about what I have lost, and I felt that it was fair to ask you about what you have also lost. Forgive me if I have overstepped my bounds."

Chloe shook her head. "I don't think about her if I can help it. I'm not as Zen, Kal-El. She left us and I don't need to worry about her again." She didn't need to think about what was wrong with her mother and what might be desperately wrong with her, what would one day happen to her.

"Sull-I-Van?" He asked, his tone concerned.

"No...I'm sorry. It's just not Brady Bunch, you know, nothing like you." She closed her eyes and swore under her breath. "Sorry, I forget sometimes."

He nodded, his poise still as regal as always. "It has been an odd four days, has it not? I understand that you forget. I do not fault you for it. I appreciate the candor," he replied. "Do you want to know about my mother?"

"Lara?"

"I do not remember her," he admitted. "I have a small flash of her, leaning over my ship. There is very little-the gleam of her bracelet, the gold of her hair, the concern in her voice. She wanted to ensure that I would be loved."

Chloe stayed quiet unsure of how to answer that at first. "I-"

"Clark was dearly loved. I have never doubted that. The Kents have given up everything to protect both of us. I know that we brought them fortune or self-sufficiency in a way, but what they had to hide...it took a toll on them. I am grateful despite my frustrations."

"Kal-El, I, I'm sure you're..." she trailed off, unsure of how to finish.

"You usually chatter incessantly," he riposted, studying her carefully.

"I do. I can't promise things that aren't there. I just know that you're very charming and you grow on people quickly. I'm sure you'll have a whole fan club by the time you're two weeks old."

He nodded and smiled a little when she squeezed his shoulder. "I am glad that you are here, that you sought us out and have joined in my quest."

"Me too."

He stroked her cheek for just an instant. "I did not know what had befallen you where I was. Had I known what he was even considering, you never would have been near that safehouse. I would have come for you, if I could have. When my mother told me what befell you, I was...it drove my anger."

"What?"

"She found me, my mother. I had been reborn by crashing into our fields and she found me. I was disoriented. I did not even remember my purpose. At first I barely remembered that I was supposed to be Kal-El, but she showed me everything. She showed me my family. It is when I so carelessly destroyed Jonathan Kent's picture. She told me about you, about what Lionel had done to you. It did not hit me completely, but then came Luthor's plane and the cold realization that both Lex and Lionel must be searching for the same elements I needed. I rushed into Virgil's office so I could find stop Lionel."

"Because of me?"

"I have rarely hurt so much in my life as when I thought you had perished."

"I'm here, though, and I heal!" She chirped, desperately trying to get back to even footing.

"I know you are and I am much relieved," he replied, smiling shyly and looking back down onto the street. "I do remember my mother."

"But you said about Lara-"

"I have two mothers," he conceded. "I remember the day Martha Kent found me. It was only me then for Clark came later, from them. His stared, unfocused, into the night and his tone softened. As always, he was so formal, but there was a tenderness in his words that he rarely showed. "I was terrified. Everything was new and bright and smelled wrong. Everything was engulfed in flames, and even then, there were things that could harm me."

"Meteors were falling," she added.

"The sky was falling and I fell with it," he continued, without answering. "I was alone and I did not understand. There had been my mother and my father and now there was no one and everything was strange and wrong. I was alone, and then she was there and she swept me up in a blanket." He smiled. "Her hair is still so beautiful, so red, like my real sun, and I loved her for it immediately. I loved her immediately and now she cannot stand the sight of me."

"Kal-El, it's complicated."

He nodded and he was closed off again. "You do not need to make excuses for her. Things are as they are. They may improve or they may not. If I am to complete my father's wishes then it may not be an issue any way. I shall finish my quest and leave Smallville behind me."

That hurt. Chloe could not imagine her life without Kal-El in it, whether he was Clark or as he was now, he made her life work. "Are you leaving me too, then?"

"Never, Sull-I-Van. That would never happen. I shall never allow it," he replied. Shaking his head, he added. "I have been maudlin and human tonight. That was not truly my intention."

"Really?" she scoffed.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I do not appreciate your sarcasm. I am a fearsome alien overlord in training. I do not think Darth Vader was snickered at."

Chloe eyed him, "That's a joke, right?"

"Naturally. I do not like to breathe heavily anyway," he conceded. "I am worthy of some awe."

"Can't have it both ways, Chewbacca. Either I like you, all your human foibles-and you so have them-included, or I bow down. Take your pick."

"You don't have to undercut me. Minor awe, baby awe," he sniffed.

"No way," she chirped, relaxing when he smiled. Kal-El needed this, someone with whom he could be his quixotic brand of normal.

"Very well, I shall have you executed first and then outlaw all blondes in vengeance!"

"You've mapped out overlord plans?"

"Oh yes," he replied and he was grinning wickedly, one of those wide puppy-dog looks Clark used to have when they were younger.

He was having fun.

Imagine that.

"What are they?" she asked, leaning closer for "the secret."

"First, nothing vegan. That is a ridiculous presumption. Humans were engineered to be carnivorous, as I am. There shall be steak."

"Are you sure it's not a farmer thing?"

"We have dairy cows," he sniffed.

"Oh."

"Metropolitan," he accused. "And there shall be only one television channel and I will run it."

"Will you? And will it all be football?"

"Rao no, I would never watch such a barbaric past time. Do you have no idea what I would watch?"

"Stupid space documentaries."

"No...well not always. There shall be Monty Python and it shall be good."

"I introduced you two!"

"Well yes, and I can appreciate the great strides you have made to improving world culture with this introduction. There shall also be Baywatch."

She snorted. "Higher culture?"

"It imparts important life saving information. It shall be a public service for my subjects."

"You're so seventeen."

"We've established this," he riposted. "And on Fridays, everyone shall wear chicken hats."

"What the Hell?"

"Well I will not have to do it, but it will be funny for me to see all the fake feathers."

"You're a terrible evil overlord."

"I know, do not tell my ship's intelligence." He replied, his tone sobering.

It was the first time he had not called it his father and Chloe didn't press. Instead, she added, "What happens to me in the new world order, assuming I'm not executed for mocking the fearsome new overlord."

Kal-El glanced down at him and she gulped at the intensity she saw in his eyes. "I would make you queen, Sull-I-Van."

"Kal-El-"

He shrugged, "But then you would open your mouth and I would be forced to demote you to court jester. It would be grievous day."

She giggled. "I like most of your plans."

"I think they have potential," he riposted. "Would you like to go flying some more?"

"Yes."

"We can...dear Rao," he said, focusing in on the scroll over the ABC building. "It cannot be."

Chloe frowned and followed his line of sight. She gulped as she read the news along with him. "Kal-El, what do we do now?"

"We're going to Metropolis. We shall find Genevieve, for she surely has the final stone in her grasp."

She nodded and let him grab her. Relief flooded through her about her new found freedom, but at the same time, a much deeper panic started to roil up. If the Countess and the Teagues had one stone, what would they do with it?

"Hold on," Kal-El commanded, as efficient as he'd been his first day in Swann's office.

"Just go!" She shouted, squinting at the newsfeed one last time as they took off.

It didn't feel real.

The scrawl didn't feel possible.

Industrialist Lionel Luthor found dead in cell, investigation pending.


	11. Chapter 11

**11**

*Author's Note: I took Latin for three years in high school. The textbooks are in another state and I have no interest in pulling a Harry Potter fanbrat and making stuff up. Thus, you won't get the words, sorry.

"Kal-El, you have to stop this," Chloe said, the second he put her down. "You need to think about this."

"I have thought about it," he said, as he landed and stood with her just inside the gates of one of the largest mountains in the Metropolis Hills.

"How? How did you think about it? If you go in there, it's Isobel against you and she's pretty damn powerful. You bled for a day."

"And I have my own sidekick who is quite gifted at healing Kryptonians. Imagine how well I have picked my mate."

"You what?"

"Nothing," Kal-El back peddled. "I am allowed to joke, am I not?"

"Kal-El, forget whatever weird mating dance we have right now. I don't want you to get hurt."

"And those stones are my responsibility. I have promised my father that I will care for them and this is most dangerous. Isobel is already powerful, just that stone in her possession could increase her power by ten fold. How could I account for that?"

"It'll be easier for you to do that if you aren't dead. I know you're all powerful Kal-El, except you're not. _I _could take you."

His eyes blazed at that. "You most certainly could not."

"I could. Isobel and you fought to a draw. If you go in there, on her turf, with whatever Genevieve has and she's smart enough to know alot about Krypton. If Dr. Swann knew about you and she was ever working with him, just think for once."

"I am thinking," he replied, striding forward. "This ends tonight."

"And then you'll leave?" she asked, struggling to keep pace with him and then pulling on his arm.

"I shall do as my father as intended, I suppose," he replied, stopping at the front door with her. "I will not be gone permanently, but the question remains as to why I should stay, Sull-I-Van?"

"How about we go back to Swann's and regroup. Regrouping is good and it means that you won't be hurt!"

Kal-El smiled, "So you do care. That is touching."

"Of course, Kal-El, please. Reason! I thought you'd listen to reason more than Clark. Isn't that the point of being from an advanced civilization anyway?"

"There is also a time for action and it would be now," he replied tersely, turning the knob and entering into the hallway. She followed behind him and into a grand living room. It was something that looked like it belonged in the Luthor Mansion with large, overstuffed leather furniture and a huge grandfather clock. Genevieve, who clearly had thrown in her lot with the wrong all powerful demi-god, was chained to one high-backed Chippendale chair and gagged with a scarf.

Jason was sitting in a sofa by the fire and Isobel, her eyes curiously no longer gleaming that odd violet, was perched on his lap, her hand straying to places best left untouched in mixed company.

"You came," the countess said, her tone playful.

Kal-El was not in a mood for games. "I have come for the stone of my ancestors. You have no right to it."

"Rights are such a subjective thing, Clark."

Kal-El quirked his head at her. "Kal-El. I do not cater to the other name anymore."

The countess's Cheshire cat smile widened and Chloe averted her gaze as her hand moved yet lower. Apparently 400 years without a body left one a little frisky. "So I've been misinformed. Jason does tend to do that from time to time."

Something was wrong here, beyond Kal-El being here and the French witch before her. Something just didn't fit and Chloe couldn't piece the last of it together. "I don't suppose we can just compromise on this?"

Isobel narrowed her eyes at Chloe. "You're the one who hurt my boy?"

"I pack a mean wallop, um, now. Plus, did I mention how he almost broke my arm?"

"And the bitch kneed me, Isobel. That was so wrong."

Isobel nodded. "I don't like when people mess with my boy. In fact, I loathe it."

"Where is the stone?" Kal-El pressed and she noticed him squinting. He'd mentioned something about other types of vision, hadn't he? Could he X-Ray anything? Lead, he'd mentioned, but just any wall...damn, she wished she had that one. After a second, Kal-El glanced down at the countess's enclosed hand. "You have it."

"I do. Do you think you can take it from me, Kal?"

"Kal-El and I move faster than you can perceive."

"And I can speak very quickly."

"Oh that's not s good."

The countess's eye flashed although this time it wasn't violet as she hissed something in Latin. Kal-El fell to the ground instantly, breathing heavily. Chloe was kneeling down next to him as soon as she could, one hand held against his forehead. "What did you do?"

"Stunned," the countess replied, standing up. "But I can do more. I'd love to do more. He's delayed me and I know he has the other two. Jason saw him steal the Chinese stone and the report's from the young Luthor's jet...only a being like Kal-El could do that."

"I would never tell any human where they are."

Isobel stepped forward and pulled Chloe to her feet. Chloe struggled but the countess was surprisingly strong. Perhaps it was because she was magically endowed or maybe it was all the self-defense classes Lana had taken while Chloe had been The Torch desk jockey. "I don't need you at all, Kal. She knows, doesn't she? You've told her everything."

"I have not," he replied and he was a much better liar than Clark had ever been.

"Mendicant," she hissed. "I know you're lying. You dragged her to China for that stone. She must know where you've hidden it, since it's not on your person."

"She knows nothing," Kal-El sneered, holding his head high with the regal demeanor that befitted him. "I would never tell a human anything."

"I doubt that," Isobel replied, holding Chloe by the chin. "You can tell me where everything is, can't you?"

"I don't know anything."

"Bullshit," Jason snapped.

The countess smiled and hissed another sibilant Latin word. "Tell me, Chloe."

"The caves," Chloe said, shooting a panicked look at Kal-El when she realized what she'd revealed. "I didn't mean that."

"Of course not," the countess said, releasing her and then holding her palm to Kal-El's chest. She spoke again and Chloe blinked against the bright onslaught of light radiating from Kal-El's chest, a sharp white light that left spots in her eyes. "Jason, darling, would you like to do the honors."

He smiled and gave the countess a lingering kiss. "I'd love to."

As Chloe watched, the countess's strong hands restraining her, Jason backhanded Kal-El. Chloe flinched, expecting Jason's hand to shatter on impact. Instead, she marveled as Kal-El spit blood. For the first time, she saw actual fear in Kal-El's eyes. "What did you do?"

The countess smiled and she'd be seeing that cold, cruel look in her nightmares. "I stripped his powers. He's not a threat anymore at all. Now, are you ready to travel?"

"Wait!" Kal-El shouted. "I want to say good-bye to my pet human."

"You're what?"

Kal-El looked at her and she recognized that expression. Clark had given her the same one during some of their worst Torch misadventures. He wanted her to play along. "I said, my pet human. I have grown fond of her in my time. If you are to steal her away, then I am not asking too much to wish her farewell. I have no power here, anymore."

"M...Isobel, don't do it," Jason replied.

"There's nothing to he can do, Jason, don't be foolish," she chided, letting Chloe go. "Feel free. This should prove entertaining."

Chloe slipped a little after being let go and stumbled into his grasp. "You have a genius plan now? Because the storming the castle one sucked."

"Duly noted," he replied, pulling off his wristwatch and placing it around her arm, on the wrist he'd been staring at since she'd met him. "It is not what I would have wished, but it shall have to do."

"For what?" She asked, and then the next thing she knew, he was kissing her, the taste of blood fresh in her mouth and his already swelling lip pressed against hers. It was nothing like what she and Clark had shared in the filing room earlier this year. It was hungrier, and she felt the smallest flicker of something running through her.

He pulled back. "It is insurance Sull-I-Van, this I promise you."

"For what? And boundaries?"

He grinned. "You shall see and my father is going to be so angry with me."

"Enough," Jason snapped, pulling her to her feet. "Isobel."

"We're off," she replied before issuing a Latin curse. There was an arc of green lightening and they were gone.


	12. Chapter 12

**12**

When the lightening receded, Chloe found herself back in the caves. "So now what?"

"You know where the stones are hidden," Isobel said. "You need to show them to me."

Chloe sighed. "Look, ordinary human, um, mostly. I just got suckered into this stone hunt a few days ago. I have no idea how they work and I don't know how Kal-El controls the caves at all."

"I think you do," she countered.

"Look, seriously, I have no clue and whoa," she finished reaching into her jeans and pulling out the key which he'd also managed to slip into her jeans pocket while he'd been kissing her. Kal-El, even without his speed, had a future as a magician, that seemed certain. Chloe flinched at the warmth of the key and opened her palm wide. The disk continued to glow brightly and then, as she watched, situated itself into the cave wall. As before the glyphs moved and rotated and to her immense frustration, the cave chamber opened itself up to all of them. "Okay, so I definitely didn't see that one coming."

"You are very convenient," Isobel remarked. "Jason, make sure she can't run. I'd love for her to show us the chamber."

He nodded and grabbed her shoulders. "Always, Isobel."

Chloe was dragged to the chamber and now Isobel, her hand clasping both the black stone of change and the key, leaned over the altar. "So here we are, after so many years of searching. Do you remember how Kal activated this?"

"Look, I have no idea how to deal with alien technology. I'm not even sure if Kal-El knows how it's supposed to work."

Isobel shook her head and placed the final stone in the carved out segment of the altar. It glowed, like pretty much the rest of Kal-El's people's technology, and, to her amazement, the stones coalesced together and formed one giant crystal. Greedily, the countess reached out for it and then she shrieked.

"Mom!" Jason shouted and Chloe wished she hadn't figured out what was wrong. So Kal-El's conjecture about the water stone being able to transplant souls had been correct. Eww.

Genevieve dropped the crystal and it remained hovering in the air a few feet above the altar. "It won't let me touch it." Jason started to reach out for it, and his mother grabbed his arm, pulling it back. "No, it's protected, something that counters our family's magical endowment. _We _can't touch it. We probably can't touch the disk either."

"So what do we do?"

"Luckily, we brought someone who can. Chloe, now would be an excellent time to put the disk into that slot."

"I don't know if that's how it works," she hedged.

"Well, I doubt Kal-El would have guarded the disk so closely and broken into Virgil's office for it, if it were useless. Give it a try or you'll be sorry."

Her eyes flashed green and Chloe didn't want to test her. She picked up the silver disk from its place on the floor, and held the heavy, cool metal in her hands. "I can't."

"I'll kill you if you don't."

"No you won't. We have a Mexican standoff. You can't use the stones or the key and I can't let you."

"I can go back and kill Kal-El. Would you rather I try that? He's clearly ancillary. You can manage well enough."

Chloe gulped, not Kal-El. She'd spent all summer looking for Clark and she'd promised to help Kal-El. Besides, she had the feeling that Kal-El had done something, something more than steal a kiss. She trusted him and his judgment. Gulping, she grasped the key and then placed it into the slit in the altar. Around her, the air rippled and grew incandescent. She felt energy surge through her and the next thing she knew, she was in a field of snow. She shivered and saw Jason and Genevieve standing behind her. In front of her the large, shield-shaped crystal hovered.

"What am I supposed to do now?"

"Take it, Chloe," the other woman urged.

Chloe nodded and grasp the crystal and, then, oddly enough, she had the strongest urge to throw it. She reached back and tossed it and was shocked to see it arch across the sky. She had never been a sports player, and its movement was mostly of its own momentum. As she watched in the distance, the crystal fell and sank to the ground.

Genevieve reached out and slapped her. "What did you do?"

"I.. just wait," she replied. She had no idea what she was waiting for, but she knew it was going to be important. Then, the earth shook and she stumbled into Jason, as she watched a huge structure erupted from the layers of ice and snow, its crystalline spires shooting high into the open air. "Oh my god."

"Mom?" Jason asked and she wondered if he did anything but take orders.

"Come along," Genevieve insisted, taking his arm and leading them all to the, well, ice castle sounded wrong. She wasn't sure what she'd call it, alien outpost maybe.

It took a while and her legs were mostly numb by the time they'd made it through the knee high snow. Stepping into the outpost was amazing. The ceiling rose to be forty feet high in some places, and she marveled at the intricate interweaving of its pillars. "Wow, this is amazing."

Then, a loud voice boomed out. It wasn't even loud to her ears. It was deeper than that, something telepathic that she felt. "Who has come here?"

"I have!" Genevieve shouted. "I've come for the knowledge and power the stones promised." Three pillars of light erupted then, each one encasing Chloe, Jason, and his mother. After a few seconds, her column released her. The other two receded only far enough so that her companions could speak. Genvieve's face was flushed with fury. "What's going on?"

"Humans are not allowed access to the Fortress of Solitude. It is a right reserved for Kryptonians alone."

"Uh, I'm not one of those," Chloe added.

If an artificial constructed alien voice could be wry, this one certainly was. "No, you are not, although you are not completely human, either. However, you have been marked as part of the House of El."

"What?"

"The adornment around your wrist. It binds you to Kal-El and this Fortress is rightfully the property of any heir to the House of El."

Chloe blinked. "When you say binding?"

"My father implies that it is marriage," Kal-El replied and she spun around, blinking.

"What the Hell?" She noticed the dissipating purple light and noticed that Isobel was standing beside him, her face twisted in anger. "I'm going to repeat that:'What the Hell?'"

"We have forged an alliance of sorts. Isobel would like to take vengeance for her betrayal."

"I shall make the ingrates bleed from pours they did not even know they possessed."

"Yeah, there is that," Chloe drawled. "Kal-El, do you think that was a good idea?"

He rolled his eyes and that was something she'd taught him. "No I do not. Father?"

A third column sprung up from the floor of the Fortress, although this time it was a primary shade of blue. The light spread to where Genevieve was held and both women screamed. Chloe watched as something ethereal and translucent spread through the air and then both women shuddered.

She frowned back at Kal-El. "What happened?"

"Everything that should have been restored, aside from my abilities, has been. The countess has been purged and Teague has come back to her own body."

Genevieve glared back at them. "Let me out."

"In time," Kal-El replied. "I am sure that the Metropolis authorities would love to meet with the woman responsible for Lionel Luthor's murder."

"That is an allegation."

"I can provide proof if you give me time," he replied. "Father?"

"Kal-El."

"The stones have been located and restored. I would wish to ask a favor."

"Sull-I-Van brought the stones together. Technically, I am at her command." And now the structure sounded as if it were pouting.

"What?"

Kal-El smirked. "Our technology is telepathic and the Fortress has become linked to you. As long as you live, it will obey your commands."

"You put me in charge of an alien fortress?"

He flinched slightly. "It is a safety precaution. My mother does not trust my intentions, nor does Dr. Swann. Both fear that I am a conqueror. I am leaving my greatest reserve of technology under the supervision of the human I trust most. I still have control of my abilities, but I will not be able to use the weapons of the Fortress against you."

"Weapons?" She was in control of the most advanced computer on Earth, which, frankly, was a little like an aphrodisiac. However, the thought of her with access to the intergalactic little red button made her nervous.

"Sull-I-Van, you may send them anywhere you wish. I must confess that with information provided by Dr. Swann, they have been put on alert to the authorities for questioning."

"You had time for that?"

"Cell phones are a wonderful invention, by human standards," he conceded.

Chloe nodded. "Uh, Fortress?"

"Yes?"

"Would you beam them up or whatever to the police in Metropolis? Can you do that?"

"It is not difficult." Huh, so that arrogance was inherited. There was a flash and a flurry of colorful cursing from Jason and they were gone. All that was left then in the Fortress were Chloe, Kal-El and Lana. "Oh and if you could let Lana go that would be great."

The light around Lana disappeared and she was stumbled back a few steps. "What's going on?"

Kal-El quirked his head in that jerky, bird-like motion of his. "What do you last remember?"

Lana frowned at him and shrank a little in on herself. "I was doing an etching in Paris, there was a flash, and the next thing I know I'm here and you're talking to a, did you say Fortress?"

Kal-El nodded. "I cannot access the weapons. Only Sull-I-Van could do that. I suggest that you do not anger her."

Lana's frightened gaze shifted to her. "What's going on, seriously? And what's with all the talk about humans?"

Chloe sighed. "Kal-El?"

"I am not ashamed," he insisted and she noticed him standing taller, to his full height. "Lana, we have met, although not the way you have anticipated. My name is Kal-El and I am, as Clark liked to put it, not from around here."

Lana's eyes widened and Chloe recognized the look as fear and not awe. "You're...what are you?"

Kal-El's posture went rigid. "I am a Kryptonian. I come from a planet 23 galaxies removed from your own."

"Chloe? Did Clark hit his head."

"No," she replied, even if the end result was still that Clark was no longer home. "He's not lying. I kind of thought the big extraterrestrial fortress might clue you in."

Lana looked slightly green, which was ironic, considering Clark should be the green one. "The whole time?"

Kal-El smirked. "No, it is a recent development. I would wager since birth."

Chloe giggled. "He's kind of a dry sense of humor. I'd say not to tell anyone, but he's planning this whole coming out party at some point."

"Do not trivialize my great revelations," Kal-El groused.

"Whatever, Chewbacca," Chloe replied, grinning.

Lana gulped and looked around. "Am I free to go? I'm not a prisoner, am I?"

Kal-El shook his head. "Believe me when I say that _I _have no interest in you. You were always Clark's pet and that is where our similarities surely end. Sull-I-Van, you may feel free to ask my father to send her to her aunt in Metropolis."

"So the fact that she might tell everybody?"

"Does not faze me. As it is, no one would believe her and I am soon coming to my own time to share."

Chloe eyed Lana. She wondered if she'd been as skittish and fearful around Kal-El. She couldn't imagine that, even if it had only been four days since they'd met. He was so very gentle now that she knew him. She could never be scared of him. Lana, however, was staring at Kal-El as if he were about to molt.

"Kal-El's dad?"

"Jor-El," it intoned impatiently.

"Jor-El, then. Can you send her home?"

"It is also no bother." There was a second flash, Lana's panicked squeal, and then that girl was gone.

"Kal-El, I still don't think that was all that smart," Chloe said, after he was gone.

Kal-El curled his lip. "I do not have patience for her and she knows very little. It is impossible to access this Fortress if you don't allow it. It is cloaked, and she knows nothing of my abilities or my weaknesses. No one would believe a simple farm boy is an alien."

"I do."

"You are wise for a human and she is a fool."

"Harsh," she said, but she did not correct him.

"Kal-El," the Fortress said and it did sound peeved. "You have disappointed me."

Kal-El shrank in on himself and Chloe took his hand. He could not please either his human parent or his alien one, it seemed. "I am sorry, father, but it was the best method I could think of."

"A human has access to the Fortress."

"My chosen one," he corrected, blushing a little. "It is different. Both Clark and I have always trusted her. She will serve me faithfully. Besides, you know she is not merely human."

"That is a saving grace."

"May I have my powers back?"

"Of course," it replied. "You have accomplished your task and have served the House faithfully if not to the letter of the law. Besides, it is a dishonor to have our last son be merely human."

"Hey!" Chloe objected. "Earth's full of those."

There was a flare of red, blue, and yellow light and Kal-El's scar glowed underneath his shirt. There was a flash of heat vision in his eyes and she knew he was restored. "Thank you, father."

"Training must be started immediately."

Kal-El shook his head. "I am not avoiding my duties, but I, despite my life as Clark Kent, do not understand much about the world and its people. I would like to travel, to get to understand them. I have learned much over the four months with you and I have mastered my gifts. What I lack is an understanding of the people whom I am to care for."

"You do not need understanding to rule."

"And I do not wish to do that. I am not their equal. I do not harbor that illusion, but I do care for certain humans, and I do not want to dominate them. I am not a god."

"No, we are not."

"Besides," he said, his smirk returning. "Sull-I-Van is now in control of your programming. If you displease me, she will deactivate you."

"If that is how you wish to play this, my son."

His eyes flashed. "It is. I shall return in my own time, but for now I am not training." He reached out his hand for her, "Sull-I-Van, shall we egress?"

She grinned. "Of course. So, Kal-El, you just saved the world from two crazy witches and possibly the Luthors, what are you going to do next?"

And then he looked at her with that same guileless expression that belied his naivete in regards to his new life. "I would like to go to Disneyworld."


	13. Chapter 13

**13**

Chloe was sitting on the balcony of their hotel room, watching the fireworks display below. Kal-El was sitting next to her, hovering above the ground with his legs crossed. He was watching the display below with rapt attention, his smile widening every time there was a new flash of lights. Chloe watched him watch the lights, enjoying the joy of his expression and the way the flashes highlighted his high cheekbones.

Her fearsome alien overlord was so much like a little kid.

"So, you're enjoying it?"

He turned to her, his chin held stiffly but his eyes twinkling. "There were always fireworks on the Fourth of July at ho...on the farm. This is not different."

"But I'd think the display over Epcot is a lot different from the modest display in Smallville, you know?"

He considered her statement and nodded. "It is a much larger display. I have enjoyed it."

She grinned. "You also enjoyed cotton candy at eight dollars a cone, the space mountain-no surprise there, It's a Small World-huge surprise there, and, of course, the tea cups."

"They spin. It amuses me," he replied.

"Kal-El, don't take this the wrong way, but you failed alien dictator 101, didn't you?"

He smiled. "I am glad that I have. I do love this world. Both Clark and I shared that much. I do not wish to bring harm to it. I can only see an overlord, in the end, as doing just that. I could have the best of intentions but with uncontested power, it would not matter. I would still be able to abuse that power."

"Is that the Kents?"

He shrugged and stiffened. "I learned some things from Jonathan Kent. I learned how to turn my back on others in need most thoroughly, not just Lex Luthor when he was being poisoned, but on my own son. I do not think I shall model that bit of parenting."

"You've never gotten over it."

"He is not my father."

"So he's not but Martha's your mother?"

"I do not cater to humans who are unhelpful. He, at his core, was not loyal to us. I recognize his sacrifices, but it is not sufficient. When the worst comes to pass, he will not side with us, not even with Clark."

"And you think I will?"

He reached out and took the hand on the arm with his wrist watch still swamping it. "You have saved the world with me. You have refused to murder me. I trust you with all that I have."

Chloe swallowed at the enormity of that responsibility. "Kal-El, as much as I love hugging Mickey Mouse and cavorting with pirates, we actually have to talk about what Jor-El said in the Fortress. What does it mean that it recognizes me as an El?"

He looked down and blushed. Clark had always been sensitive like that as well. It was so very odd to see in an alien. She never thought they'd blush. "It was a preventative measure. If the stones recognized you as part of a Kryptonian House, they'd respond to you primarily. I did it to insure that the Countess, or Genevieve, would not use them first. It was not meant to pressure you."

"Is it permanent?"

"The Fortress will always recognize it as such. It was traditional on Krypton to give the lifemate a bracelet and to consummate the union."

She gaped at him. "We didn't consummate anything."

He nodded. "I am aware, but there was an exchange of fluid."

"The blood."

"Yes, it is not the way I would have preferred. It was the spirit of the laws, although not the letter. There is a true bracelet, one set aside by my ancestors, that is worthy of you, but I was out of options."

"I understand," she replied. "Kal-El, I don't...I'm not ready to be married to anybody. I'm not even out of high school."

"I realize that. All that it means is that you have the access to the Fortress. It is for the best. I do not even trust myself completely, but I trust you. You care about justice and you are the most humane person I've ever met."

"I betrayed Clark."

"And you have more than made amends. I ask that you act as my counsel. It need not be more than what we have between us now. It is merely that I need someone to assist me. I am not so conceited that I do not see that. You have worked well with me so far. I...you and Clark were partners. Can we not be as well?" He asked, ducking his head.

She squeezed his hand. "I can help you. I can do whatever it is you think you need with the Fortress."

"I do not need it now. I have trained to an extent. I do intend to travel the world."

"Now?"

He frowned. "Why would I not?"

"Because you haven't even finished high school. Because the Kents would miss you."

"Do you think that they would. My mother does not care for me. Clark is the favored son."

"They'd still miss you too, believe me," Chloe hedged. "I'd miss you." This, apparently, was the wrong thing to say. Kal-El's expression darkened and he blurred into the bedroom. Rolling her eyes at drama queen intergalactic travelers, Chloe followed after him. "So what did I say now?"

He stormed up next to her and she remembered how much taller he was than she. "I know that you might miss me to a degree, but who you would miss most would still be Clark."

"And he was my best friend for four years. I miss him very much even now, but when I said you, I _meant _you, Kal-El."

He glared at her. "Can you even differentiate between the two of us?"

"Believe me. I can," she replied. "I never thought that I'd be able to, but I can't see him when I'm with you anymore. Ever since the pillow fort. I saw you that night. Sitting outside in New York City, I was joking with Kal-El. When Martha left the room, it was you I was trying to comfort."

"What are we to each other?"

She stepped even closer to him. "I'm not sure anymore. I loved Clark."

"That is not something I want to hear."

"No, I mean that I had this obsessive school girl crush on someone who couldn't love me back. But now I've met someone else."

"Who looks as Clark does, who shares your history."

"No, I met someone dynamic and clever and kind. I met someone who's proud of all that he is, who won't be bossed around by Lana. I met someone who'd run into certain death to save the world." She narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't think you should do that anymore. It was not a very good plan, by the way."

"It is duly noted."

"I'm serious, Kal-El, no more suicide missions. Next time a little caution would be the right thing."

"You were worried."

"Always," she said, reaching out to touch the side of his cheek. "I don't believe in love at first sight. Hallmark made that up. I like you very much. I'm attracted to _you _, and I don't want you to just leave on some world tour."

"I have to go."

"Wait. The world will still be there in nine months. Metropolis has ten million people in it. You can learn a lot about humans from Smallville and the mutants and from Metropolis and its crime rate. Seriously, Kal-El, do you want to be out in the world with an eighth grade education?"

He shook his head. "It is shameful to only be educated officially in human math and science. To be uneducated is an insult to my house of scientists."

"Exactly," she replied, stroking his cheek. "Please stay with me."

"But there is so much between you and him."

She smiled wryly. "Did you ever think that the things I loved best about Clark are also the things I enjoy about you. I meant it. You have all of Clark's kindness and integrity and none of his hang-ups and callousness. I'm not saying you're better. I'm just saying that there's a lot about you to like as well."

"Sull-I-Van, I-" That was when she leaned up and kissed him, her tongue skillfully massaging his own. She stood up on tip toe and wrapped one arm around his back and reached up with the other to stroke his hair. Leaning even closer, she pushed her side against his hips. She was amused by the bulge she found there. No, Kal-El definitely felt very many things.

Pulling back, she smirked at him. "Do you still have doubts?"

"You have only said that you like me," he admitted, panting a little, and she didn't know he'd do that.

"I do like you," she replied. "It's not love right now, Kal-El, but I like you very much. It's not about him, not anymore." He quirked his head and looked at her. She realized that he was listening for her heart's rhythm. "I'm not lying."

"Perhaps you are confused."

"I'm not," she answered, grinning and starting to unbutton his shirt. Despite Kal-El's hesitance, he allowed her to do it. She worked through the buttons and smiled when he let the black silk shirt drop to the floor. Sighing, she stared at his scar and reached out one palm to it. "I wish I could heal that."

He shook his head. "I doubt that you could. You can do many things but that was made by the AI itself. It's an alien wound."

"It looks so painful."

"It bothers me rarely," he conceded. "I only wish it did not distress you so."

"He shouldn't have done that."

He nodded, "No he should not have."

Gently, she brushed a kiss over the figure eight in the center, something soft and delicate to ensure that he would not flinch. "I can always try some day."

"Now is not that day, Sull-I-Van. I must not forget my heritage."

"I think your problem is that you think of it too much, like Clark. You can fit in here."

"I do not wish it."

"Yeah, you do," she said, kissing him on the lips. "Kal-El, can we move this to the bed?"

"I would like that very much."

"Of course," she laughed. "You're seventeen."

"I believe so," he said and then the world blurred around her. When she was back on the bed, Kal-El was laying naked beside her and her own clothes were neatly folded on the chair.

"You move fast."

He grinned at her and that was the expression of joy she loved so much. "I am deeply motivated, Sull-I-Van." He leaned over and began to kiss her throat, moving slowly to kiss her breasts, giving extra attention to the nipples. He sucked and flicked his tongue with such aplomb and she believed what he had said about his summer in Metropolis. Chloe moaned and dug her hands into his hair. Kal-El let out a low rumble and began to trace patterns with his tongue over her stomach, teasing down until he reached the swell of her hip bone.

Chloe clenched his hair then. "Uh-huh, big boy. I'm so not ready for that."

Kal-El picked his head up and grinned. "Are you not?"

"Oh, I don't see pillow talk being your strong point," she shifted a little and she realized that all the attention to her breasts had left her wet and ready for him. "Later, but I want you inside me."

"I shall conquer now, yes?"

She snorted. "That's so bad, E.T."

He smirked and straddled her. "I am never bad."

He began to ease his ease his way into her and she was surprised by the size of him. She'd had sex once before, but it definitely hadn't been with a Don Juan. It had been awkward and boring and over far too soon. Idly, Chloe wondered if Kal-El was endowed with a stamina that matched his other abilities. She clenched around him and bit her lip, breathing a little and waiting to accommodate him. He slid in slowly and she stretched, feeling him fill her.

"Sull-I-Van?"

She smiled back at him. "I'm okay. It's, uh, been a while."

Kal-El's eyes flared red. Her what was the right word? Boyfriend? Alien? Overprotective teacups fanatic? Her _Kal-El _was the jealous type. "You're not?"

"Hello? Is this the fifteenth century?" She asked, moving against him. She leaned up and kissed her lips and throat hungrily. "I don't wait forever."

"If I could have, things would have been so different."

"We're here now," she replied, slipping into a smooth rhythm with him. Back and forth, she felt him pounding into her, felt herself growing ever wetter, felt her inner core clench around him. Kal-El reached down with one hand to play skillfully with her clit and another loud moaned escaped her. "Kal-El."

"Oh Chloe," he said. It was the only thing he said as he continued to move with her. His fingers were fast and applied just the right amount of pressure and Chloe felt herself crescendoing. He ground his hips against her once more and she screamed out, spasming around him and climaxing. He came soon after, shooting his seed inside of her, and she'd never been more thankful for birth control. She'd never been the type to just fall into bed with anyone. But he wasn't anyone.

He was Kal-El.

And he was very dear to her.

Satiated, Kal-El rolled off of her and lay beside her again. He was smirking, the smug bastard.

"What?" she asked.

"You glow."

"You do too," she replied, laughing. "You have just the littlest flare of orange in your eyes."

Kal-El frowned. "Does that displease you?"

"I don't know," she said, looking down at the rosy glow of her skin. "Is this freaking you out?"

"Not in the least," he said, kissing her.

"Cool, then I'm excited by the glow-in-the-dark eyes," she said, snuggling into his arms and letting him stroke her hair. He was quiet for a long while, feeding into her suspicions that Kal was not much of a talker. "Kal-El?"

"I was thinking."

"Did it hurt?"

"No, I am still vastly smarter than any human."

"Ego much?"

"Oh, I do quite well in many things. I have satisfied you."

She shrugged. "And something with batteries can too. Don't get a swelled head."

"You live to insult me, do you not?"

"It'll keep you humble, E.T. What is it you were thinking about?"

"Do you remember the priest? The one who accosted us in the cathedral."

"You mean the one you almost choked?"

"I would not have killed him," he replied, blushing. "I merely considered maiming. I am sorry for that. I am learning to listen to what I feel."

"To be human?"

"Kryptonians feel. The AI does not, but Lara did. I know we are not heartless by nature."

She snuggled closer and kissed him. "I'm sorry it came out that way. You've become so much gentler since I met you."

"I believe that you may have a calming influence on me. I wish to be my best for you."

"So about the priest. Is this about him threatening to press charges or cursing us out in French?"

"It is about what he said," Kal-El replied, stroking her arm as the glow faded. "Do you think that it is true?"

"What's true?"

"About the demon and the angel?"

"I thought you didn't do superstition?" She asked. "You know me, Kal-El. I'm anything but an angel."

"That is true but I find it oddly fitting. You know what my ancestors did."

"You're not like them so don't stress about it. You're different, Kal-El."

"Maybe, but you will ensure it. If I am ever tempted...the green meteor rocks or your own abilities could temper me."

She turned over onto her side to face him. "I'll never need to do that. I have faith in you."

He smiled and kissed her. "Thank you, Sull-I-Van. I assure you that the feeling is mutual."


	14. Chapter 14

**14**

Despite Kal-El's exuberance and how much he clearly loved the happiest place on Earth, they only stayed through until the morning. Kal-El returned them both to Smallville, to the Smallville Medical Center and to the lonely hall outside of room 316. Chloe peered in through the window and saw Martha leaning over Jonathan's bed, a well worn copy of _Huckleberry Finn _in her grasp.

Kal-El leaned in over her shoulder and sighed. "I have no right to ask this of you. It is not within our arrangement. You have a responsibility to the Fortress. You do not have one to my family."

Chloe frowned up at him. "You don't like him."

"He is Clark's father. He is all that my mother has left of her world. I cannot let him die. My father is vengeful and petty and he tricked all of us. This," he said, gesturing at Jonathan's prone form. "is wrong."

"You want me to heal him," she finished. It wasn't even a question. "Kal-El, I don't know if I can. I've never healed someone in a coma before and the AI caused this."

"If you are afraid to try, then I understand."

She smiled up at him and placed her hand in his. "I would try it even if I didn't know you at all. I can help people. How could I not try?"

He nodded gravely. "This is why I have picked you."

She gulped. That was an enormous amount of trust to place in her. Kal-El was not violent, not truly, and she trusted him to be a good man, but Dr. Swann's words echoed in the back of her mind. She was one of the few things that tempered the most powerful being on the planet. How could she live up to that?

"Thanks," she replied, opening the door and passing into the sad little room.

Martha glanced up at her and Chloe tried not to flinch at the tears in the other woman's eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"We finished. The stones are in the right place, Martha."

The other woman eyed Kal-El who stood silently in the corner of the room. "The world didn't end."

"It's not going to."

"What is he going to do with them?"

"I am standing right here," Kal-El replied stiffly. "You can ask me whatever you wish."

Martha nodded. "Are you going to do what Jor-El asked? Are you ruling us with strength?"

Kal-El shook his head. "I went to Disneyworld, instead. I have decided that I like Mickey Mouse very much."

Martha almost grinned for a second and then she must have remembered which son she was looking at. She became closed off instantly. "Why are you here?"

"I am trying to rectify what my father has done."

"The doctors don't know what this is. They can't fix it," she replied by rote. "I've asked a hundred times over the summer. Your blood...even I couldn't ask you to try anything with it. If anyone knew, Cl...Kal-El. I promised to look after Clark and I wouldn't let you become a lab specimen."

Kal-El sighed. "I had not proposed that. A transfusion of my blood is not reliable and it has only harmed the human subjects of Lionel's experiments. There is another way."

"I'm confused."

Chloe shrugged. "Martha, I might have gotten an upgrade."

"What?"

"She means," Kal-El started and he was then just right next to her. She was never getting used to that speed. "That Sull-I-Van has an ability and she is going to try and save Jonathan Kent."

"Chloe, you never said anything."

"No one mentioned anything about Clark either," she replied. "But it's new. I just didn't know," she replied, reaching out her hand and closing her eyes. She just had to think, had to take his pain from him. She felt the familiar glow spread out of her, felt the vertigo and the confusion and then she gasped at the pain surging through her. God, it was so much.

Chloe screamed loudly and fell, the pain so intense, so burning.

She remembered collapsing in Kal-El's arms and then she remembered nothing at all.

Chloe had dreamed of being in Clark Kent's bed for years, but she had never thought that this was how she'd end up in it. Blinking back up at the ceiling, she eased her way up and groaned. Two years ago, she'd visited her cousin Lois and they'd snuck into clubs at New Year's and she'd drunk half a bottle of champagne. This felt like that hangover times ten.

Strong hands clenched over her shoulders and Kal-El eased her back against the headboard. "You should rest."

"How long have I been out?"

"A day, perhaps a little less," he admitted, sliding into the bed next to her. "I am truly sorry. I did not know what would befall you."

"And you gave me an out and I couldn't let someone suffer. It's fine or it will be. Is he okay?"

Kal-El's jaw clenched. "He is in fine form this morning. I have not spoken with either of them aside from preparing breakfast for you should you wake."

"Should?"

"You were out for a long time. I was worried," he confessed, ducking his head and she marveled how the men she'd met in Swann's office could be the same one before her. How had it taken her this long to see the insecurities?

She grinned up at him and kissed him. "Well, I'm better now and, no offense, I feel like pizza."

"Well, it has long since passed noon," he conceded. "Would you like to go into town? There is Cinelli's. They still serve ones with banana peppers." His lips curled at that. Her alien ate tulips but not peppers.

Weird.

"Sure, that'd be fine, but I need to just grab something like a soda first."

"We have orange juice."

She stood up and frowned. "We have to talk your parents, Kal-El. You've been avoiding them."

"I was waiting for you," he corrected, looking down at her wrist. "You are what matters, Sull-I-Van."

"That's sweet," she deadpanned, while squeezing his hand so that he knew she appreciated the gesture. "But you can't avoid them any more."

Kal-El stood tall, his head lifted haughtily and her breath caught. She could see his regality, how he and, by extension Clark, had been born to be something more. "I do not avoid humans."

"Just the ones who matter," she replied. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere, no matter what they say. I happen to like you very much, fearsome overlord El."

Kal-El nodded. "It matters little what they say."

"Right," she said as they proceeded down the back stairwell and came to stand by the kitchen island. Martha and Jonathan Kent looked up from the kitchen table. There was a scowl on his face and quiet, maternal concern on hers. Chloe smiled for a second, thinking it was for Kal-El, but then she spoiled it by crossing over just to her and sweeping her up in a hug.

"Thank you."

Chloe pulled away and reached out again for Kal-El's hand. "It was his idea."

Martha nodded and smiled primly at Kal-El. "Then thank you for helping to fix what Jor-El did."

"I am happy to have helped, mother," Kal-El replied.

Jonathan frowned and stood as well, coming to stand next to his wife. "I don't know exactly what's going on here. I don't know where Clark is, but Martha told me about the Black Kryptonite, about what Swann can help us do. We want our son back."

Kal-El looked down at the floor. "I cannot procure that for you. Clark Kent is gone, not dead, but buried somewhere deep inside of me. If you were to bring out the Black Kryptonite, then I would die."

"You're not even human," Jonathan countered.

Kal-El nodded. "But I live. I exist now and I have a life. Do I not deserve to live as well?"

"You stole it from my son."

"Jonathan," Martha chided, putting a hand on his arm and Chloe wasn't sure if it was out of concern for Kal-El or for Jonathan. As far as Martha believed, Kal-El might very well go after Jonathan if provoked.

"No, I'm serious. I almost died bringing Clark home from Metropolis and now this summer. I deserve to have him back."

"I am sorry my father tricked you, but I cannot change what has happened."

"Besides," Chloe replied coolly, eying Jonathan with contempt for the first time in her life. "Clark was never human." Which was technically true. Clark might have been the Kents' son but he shared Kal-El's biology. To hate one for being an alien and forgive the other was unfair.

"He's more human than this impostor!"

Kal-El nodded. "I knew there was no point in trying to speak with you at length. I did not ask for what came to pass. I had watched and waited and hoped that one day I would be as free as Clark has been but I did not seek such a release deliberately. But I am here now and I am staying."

"It won't be on the farm."

"I never would have intended it," Kal-El shot back.

This time it was Martha who registered the shock. "You'd leave us?"

"You do not want me, am I correct?"

Martha hesitated. "I miss Clark."

"That is a universal sentiment," Kal-El replied stiffly.

"However, you did grow up here."

"Martha!"

She shook her head. "Kal-El, you don't have to leave."

"You do not love me. You do not want Kal-El around. You would be waiting for Clark to come back every minute of every day. I would be a ghost."

She nodded. "That's true, but," she added, glancing down at her hands. "I remember that little boy in the cornfield. I could at least learn to try, Kal-El."

"It would not work if I lived here."

"I didn't ask you to stay," Jonathan groused.

Kal-El eyed Jonathan. "You would not know anything about asking someone to stay, Jonathan Kent. I will not stay here. I will not be used as farm equipment ever again. It is beneath the House of El and Clark was a fool to agree to it."

"We couldn't keep the farm running any other way," Martha added. "He never said anything."

"We said everything," Kal-El replied, his eyes flashing and Chloe watched as Jonathan recoiled from him. Kal-El went rigid beneath her hand. Of course, he'd seen it. The Kents had taken home a baby alien and now that he was full grown, they remembered what they had done. Chloe wondered if, deep down, Jonathan had been afraid of Clark as well. "Just because we were intoxicated did not make our sentiments any less valid. We are equipment and _I _am done with it. I understand why it came to pass. I was a solution and you are only human." There was contempt in his tone and Chloe wished he didn't do that when he got defensive. He came off as extra alien then, as so self-righteous and removed.

If the Kents saw the boy who rode the teacups yesterday or the one who joked with her in Times Square, they'd like him too. How could they not?

"So you're going to leave. Take our last chance at seeing Clark away?" Jonathan demanded.

"No, I am a man of honor, which is something you know nothing about," Kal-El spat. "You used us but you harbored us for fourteen years at great cost to yourselves and to your safety. Had you not, we would have perished. I appreciate that."

"Did I make a mistake?" Jonathan asked. "Martha told me about the artifacts, about how you trashed Dr. Swann's office. What are you going to do with them?"

Kal-El's eyes were orange now. "Did you not here? I have already taken everything over. There is a parade in my honor for tomorrow. I erect the death camps on Monday. _Futui le am _."

"Enough!" She and Martha both shouted at the same time. It was enough to cow at least Kal-El. Glaring at Jonathan, she added, "He's trying to make amends. I saved your life, so at least hear him out."

"Thank you Sull-I-Van."

She turned and glared at him. "Don't thank me. Don't act like such a spoiled brat. I get this is hard but you shouldn't bait him either." She sighed and lowered her voice so much that only he heard her. "It only hurts you."

Kal-El nodded. "I am sorry for offending you and my mother."

"She's not-"

"Let it go, Jonathan. Kal-El, what do you want to do?"

"I am going to pay for my services. You are going to lose the ability to self-sustain without me and I cannot, in good conscience allow that. You will be provided for."

"I don't need charity," Jonathan said.

"No, but you do need farmhands. I do the work of four or five and, sometimes, of a tractor. You will be compensated for my loss."

"I understand," Martha interjected. "But where will you go?"

"Smallville High, actually," Chloe replied. "Kal-El wants to finish high school and then, I don't know. I think we'll travel."

Martha looked at her and Chloe squirmed. Martha _knew _. "I can't say I approve of that."

"Because I am not human?" Kal-El challenged.

Jonathan finally figured it out. "Chloe, how could you?"

She didn't like the censure. She wasn't sure if it was because it was so very Kent to wait for marriage or because it had been with Kal-El. She didn't like the perception either way.

"I'm not talking about that."

"Kal-El, it's not because you're special," Martha said, and Chloe noted the euphemism. "It's because I thought we had at least taught Clark better."

"You did. Sull-I-Van is my intended."

"It's been six days."

"It has been five years," he corrected. "Although, rest assured mother, it is not returned in kind, not exactly."

"Where are you going to live? There's that apartment above The Talon."

He shook his head. "The confines of the country do not appeal to me. Dr. Swann is going to supplement an apartment in Metropolis for both of us."

"Both?"

Chloe blushed. "Dad got relocated to Gotham after Lionel's death. I want to finish senior year too. Um, we can make it a two bedroom." She offered lamely.

"Perhaps that's best. Does your dad know, Chloe?"

"He might think I'm staying with Lana," she conceded. "But I promised Kal-El, and even Dr. Swann thinks he might need, um, supervision."

Kal-El smiled just slightly for her. The Kents couldn't argue the fearsome overlord babysitter angle. It would be a shame if humanity were doomed because of 1950s conventions. "Yes, I am quite dangerous on my own."

Jonathan's jaw clenched. He believed it. Martha frowned. She did not.

"So then this is it?"

Kal-El shook his head. "It is not. First, legally, Clark Kent is only seventeen years old and shall be for the remainder of the school year. You need to fill out the requisite forms and to provide signatures. From a business minded angle, we must stay in contact if this is to work."

"It's a business arrangement? Kal-El, you could stay."

"_ Clark _can stay," Kal-El replied. "Kal-El cannot. It would not work, Martha Kent, but we can try if you would like. Small things first."

"You'd come here for dinners?"

He shook his head. "No, not at first. At first, you should come to Metropolis or we should meet somewhere in Granville. Somewhere Clark has never been. If you have any interest in that child in the cornfield, you need to meet and see only him."

She nodded. "I'll think about it. You can call whenever you like or you can..."

"Do not promise what you cannot keep," he replied.

"Martha, you're seriously letting him leave?"

"There is not anything you could do to prevent it," Kal-El countered.

"I could get Black Kryptonite."

"Virgil has the only access of which I know, and he has sided with me," he said. "We are physics buddies."

Chloe laughed and hugged him. "It's actually cute, you should see it and oh..." Jonathan's glare meant he was not amused by that.

"I'll find a way for Clark to come back."

Kal-El flinched. "Then, Jonathan Kent, you shall not be invited to enjoy the wonders of the Granville Mall with Sull-I-Van, me and my mother. I shall not miss you."

With that, they were gone, blurring back to New York to finish arrangements with Virgil.

Silk sheets.

Black silk sheets.

Chloe had a lover with a penthouse apartment and the swanky accommodations that Clark never showed an interest in but, deep down, must have always longed for, like with his summer in Metropolis. Sighing, she rolled over and leaned carefully against his chest. They had just finished making love and his eyes were simmering.

She liked it.

She was less thrilled with her glow.

"Kal-El?"

"Yes?"

"I know it's been a few weeks, but it didn't have to go the way it did."

"It went as well as could be expected. The preparations are well underway. Martha has even agreed to meet us in the city for lunch."

"That's not what I meant. You didn't have to antagonize your father."

"He's _not _my father."

"You want him to be."

"I have no need of him. I am humoring Martha. I do not need human parents."

"Just like you don't need a human True One?"

"It is not the same. You are better."

"Because I'm meta?"

"Because you will not leave!" He shouted, making the bed shake.

Chloe's eyes widened. "It really hurt you, didn't it? What happened in the hospital two summers ago."

"We both wanted the baby. We wanted a sibling, have always wanted one. We both knew we were a burden, that the Kents were meant for more children."

"Or they were meant for you. Part of who you are is from them, even if you are from the House of El," she replied, faking a baritone resonance with her voice. "The baby's not your fault."

"It must be. I should not have had human parents. I...they should have always sent me somewhere different. If Veritas had had me, perhaps that was where I belonged all along."

Chloe shook her head. "I don't believe that."

"Isobel, Genevieve, they foresaw my coming. Dr. Swann was preparing for me. It is no matter now," he finished, fading back into steely resolve.

"Don't do that."

"What?"

"Hide behind being an alien. You do that. You come across as cold and you're not."

"It is what I am, Sull-I-Van."

"Only when you want it to be. You can be warm and wonderful. You could try for both of them. Jonathan's judgmental but he just woke up to Clark gone. He can adjust but not if you snarl at him and make jokes about world conquest."

"He believed it."

"So did I at first."

Kal-El sighed and she noticed his eyes were blue again. "You are different. He does not wish to see me for what I am. He did not ever wish to see us as we are. He wanted a _human _son and he realized that I can never be that. Back then, that's what it was about." Kal-El sighed. "I am weary and it is late, Sull-I-Van."

"I just wish..."

"One can wish for many things. Clark wished to be human, and he could never have it. I wish, when I am being my most foolish, to be loved for what I am. I do not know if that is yet possible."

"I care."

"I know and it is enough for now, Sull-I-Van. We are an excellent team," he finished, hugging her close and she could feel his grip was tighter than normal. Family upset him. Kissing the top of her head, he added softly. "I love you."

"I know."

He sighed again and said nothing more. Chloe kissed him and let her hands stray over his chest as he fell into a fitful sleep.

It would have to do for now.


End file.
